Death March Online
by dawnwatch
Summary: Most people when they wake up in a strange place wonder how they got there. The AR display points towards a game but, I am from Japan so weird parallel world is still an option. Either way its good to be back. Expy Fic
1. Chapter 1

Now I know what you're thinking Dawn you why are you posting a new story when you never update your other ones? Well my dear readers I was bored and I wanted to do one of the easiest fanfics I have ever seen.

Not only is this is a drag and drop fic but I am using expies to. What could possibly go wrong?

After watching Death March to a Parallel Rhapsody and having been a particular fan of Sword Art Online (yes I realize it's deficiencies) seeing another group using a pretty much Kirito in a pretty much Kirito fashion I came to the conclusion why do we not just use Kirito. Hence this was born.

I will be trying to stick fairly close to the Death March source materiel but since we will be using Kirito the researching of stuff and how he sees and goes around things will naturally start creating divergences.

For example Satou is a pretty hands off in general and tries to be a distance fighter when he has to fight. While also when he does get into close range fights he relies on his skill levels to carry him through.

Kirito on the other hand is or was in this case very much a gamer. He will try to push himself as much as possible and holding himself back will probably be more of a problem. Next chapter will probably be me trying to set him up for a more 'relaxed' game style then he has been used to. Right spoiler or something.

With that enjoy whatever I named this.

Also First Post/April Fools.

~X~X~

"I OWN NOTHHHHHINNNNNNG" ~ Every fanfic author ever.

~X~X~

One man versus 300 level 50 ish Lizard men. At times like this there is only one thing to say.

"Why me?"

~O~O~

Now it may come as something of quandary as to how I ended up here. To be fair I have no clue but let's go back to a simpler time and start there.

After getting out of Underworld things seemed to be going well. I finally made it out of high school without having to save anymore souls from a simulated reality. As odd as that may sound it honestly surprised me due to there up until that point reoccurring nature.

I ended up going to America for college with nothing spectacular happening and then getting a job in Japan.

Through all of this Asuna did what she did best. Scary away other girls (except one somehow) who became interested in me. She also made it through college with a business degree and we were set to be married.

At this point I would like to point out that it didn't happen.

Rika pointed out to Asuna on one of their 'playdates' that me being a programmer/hardware engineer would mean I would be able to spend approximately no time at home. This didn't make Asuna happy. She began to try and push me away from the only thing I really loved aside from her.

I currently regret my decision.

Being the idealist that I was at the time, I tried to convince her it would work and with the job I had it was. She still wanted me to quit it though, and find something else.

It was at that point that I realized something. Asuna was always 'right'. It wasn't like with my other friends that happened to be girls who were just usually right where I could accept it and move on and then bring it up jokingly later. No she habitually had to be right even with evidence to the contrary.

It was when that knowledge hit me that she said she was leaving until I saw sense.

The next year was a blur as Rika, Klien, and my remaining friends tried to put me back together.

By the end of it I had lost my dream job and had somehow been able to convince a mobile app game company to pick me up.

My days were now what Asuna feared. Out of all of the programmers that weren't slackers I had the most free time, which wasn't saying much. I had lost five goldfish from starvation before I got the auto feeder for them. 40 hour workdays will do that to you.

The unreasonable deadlines for things that kept getting changed on the whim of a boardroom were maddening.

"The games to easy."

"Now the games to hard."

"How about we give them a special item to clear it?"

Or

"The players have too much storage limit it for better balance."

"Turn the storage limit off for the beta."

What is the purpose of the beta then? Do you want me to give you an infinite plus 1 sword of smiting to?

It was at the end of one of these 40 hour workdays that I grabbed my sleeping bag out from under my desk laid down and fell asleep.

~O~O~

When I woke up I was in a familiar environment. Not so much the red rock canyons although they did remind me of four floor of Aincrad in the beta or some of the maps in GGO. No there was a heads up display in front of me.

Checking quickly I couldn't actually touch it but I could interact with it by concentrating on different parts. Making this a bit more complex than any of the menus I used to use when I had time to play games with my friends.

My listed equipment was what I had had on me that day. I had four items in storage one **Search Entire Map** and three **Meteor Showers**. My level was 1 and while I had a good number of available skills I had no skill points to put in them.

The items I had on hand seemed to point that I was in the game I was working on last because adding those to make level one beatable to non-obsessive gamers was the last thing I had done on that. Leaving me with the regret of fixing that item duplication bug.

This left the question of how I was stuck in a mobile app?

Not really knowing where I was and looking for clues I opted to forgo earning the title **Haxer** and used my **Search Entire Map**. In the top left of my vision a memo appeared briefly saying **Learned Skill: Search Entire Map**. After checking my skills to see that yes I had learned it but still had no levels in it. I checked my map.

While I don't regret my decision the phrase ignorance is bliss does come to mind.

This brings us to my current lot in life.

"Why me?"

Accidently catching the attention of commander of the **Elite Lizardmen** I moved to hide behind an out cropping of rocks as he signaled his men to pull out there bows. The next few moments of my life were taxing mainly due to the sheer number of arrows flying around me and the fact that they were gouging out the rock around me. Quickly going into my menu I had hit one of my **Meteor Shower** 's and hoped for the best. After 15 seconds and way to much hope I hit the other two hoping that at least they would work.

Sprinting out of my crumbling cover I screamed to myself. "Why did I forget to actually program those?"

It was at this point that I heard it. The inhumane scream of something flying past me. Looking up I saw the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time. Large flying space rocks. Right those have a delay after casting.

I also realized that I needed to run faster due to where it looked like they were going to hit the shockwave might still affect me. Ducking behind another outcropping the sound of explosions hit me just about the same time as the shockwave.

It was a while later that I opened my eyes warily trying to shack off what could have been a concussion. Working my way to my feet I begin my search for the thing that all gamers instinctively crave loot. The sound of metal scrapping against rock caught my attention as I worked my way towards the cliff face.

Seeing a scaled and helmeted head cross the horizon I start moving backwards going over my options. I am unarmed and my level is only 310 therrr…

A quick check at what is apparently a log of my events on the top left of my vision the list had gotten a lot longer listing all of the things that I had killed. I am going to have to work through that soon 300 level 50s should not give me that kind of xp.

Having more options then I previously supposed I firm up my stance as his head makes it over the edge allowing him to spit the short sword he was carrying in his mouth out. Pulling himself up the rest of the way he kicks the blade over to me as while pulling out a spear and getting in his own stance.

Slowly picking up the blade I look at his status.

The fact that he is still standing is surprising to a miraculous extent because I can barely see the red of his heath bar. He lunges at me as I try to get to the side breaking my guard a brief searing sensation crossing my check as I reach up to check it my fingers gain a red liquid on them.

Out of all of the 'games' I have played over the years none have really ever done blood. You could lose an arm and never have to worry about bleeding out. Aincrad in all of its scariness gave you that arm back after ten minutes even without a potion. Some parts of what this was, however game like they may have been were real.

Looking up I was forced to dodge again as the **Elite Lizardman Commander** attacked. Instead of just hanging back this time I pushed under his strike using what little 'muscle' memory I still had from all of my previous experiences to try and pulling off a semblance of a **Horizontal**.

I slide to a stop while turning around, locking eyes with him respect filling them as his body broke into polygons.

Confused by the sudden change I notice four new items in my adventure log.

 **Skill Gained: One Handed Straight Sword**

 **Defeated: Elite Lizardman Commander**

 **Event: Cleared the Valley of Dragons**

 **All loot moved into storage**

I guess that makes sense.

Checking my stats again and seeing that they were maxed out I moved onto looking at my skills they are still empty but I now have 3100 points to apply. Seeing this I fill out both my **Search Entire Map** and **Meteor Shower** as well as a couple other combat related ones.

Using **Search Entire Map** I quickly find out that I am the last living thing in my current area. Seeing this I quickly hit **Meteor Shower** to see how this one varied from the previous one I used. A quick check showed that it used around a third of my **MP** after the twenty second delay the rumble of the space rocks approaching causing me to look up from my menu.

Those are a lot bigger then I remember. It was at this point that I started running as fast as I could. I had moved extremely fast in a few of my previous games, I was the fastest flyer out of everyone in ALO mainly due to the fact that there was only an acceleration cap with no such thing as wind resistance. Never had I moved this fast on foot though. Moving at a speed where I felt like I could almost skip the Grand Canyon if I tried. Something that I had to test a couple of times in my mad scramble.

The crashing and rumbling of all the now rubble pushing me to try and run faster. The heat on the bottom of my shoes gives out as the soles peel off leaving my feet to the rough cold stone. I am almost at the edge of the map but the tsunami of rock and dust nipping at my heels pushes me to run faster. As I cross the barrier between zones it almost feels like breaking through the surface of water probably wouldn't be as bad if I was walking but the physical shift trips my up as I start tumbling end over end. Looking back behind me I see the wave hit the barrier as it holds it back.

So there is an actual barrier between different regions. That's new.

Grabbing a different pair of shoes out of my storage I started looking for something else to wear in order to blend in better. Finding a black cloak and pants I habitually equipped them. Doing one more map check, the **Soldiers Stronghold** stood out.

Dusting off my pants I headed out.

~O~O~

The trip to the strong hold went smoothly not feeling pressed for time I went at a fairly leisurely place only running when I felt particularly bored.

This gave me time to sort through my adventure log, items, and skills lists fully. This gave me an idea of some of the things that I had accidentally done with in my first ten minutes of this game. Which was defiantly a personal best beating out the old kill an entire high level scouting party with starting gear.

Apparently I had killed an **Ancient Dragon God**. With the death of so said dragon along with the many other dragon and dragon type units my completely stupidly high level can now be explained. It was really bothering me how I got so high defeating only 300 units of around a 50 level usually that would get me into the high 40s maybe but the dragon makes it make sense. The more you know. This gave me the fun titles of **Enemy of Dragons, Dragon Slayer** ¸ and last but not least **God Slayer**.

The items from these endeavors now also made a lot more sense, these included numerous **Holy Items** including **Excalibur** , an even larger number of fantasy style items such as **Skin of Never Ending Water** , and a bordering on obscene amount of coins. The temptation of walking in to whatever passed as a club here and 'making it rain' had only briefly crossed my mind.

Having always been one to favor lighter armor, I did eventually equip a set of leather armor that fit fairly well underneath my wizard's cloak. As well as a shoulder bag of some sort called the **Garage Bag** to hide my inventory abilities. It might also help with my cover of being a merchant.

I should probably think that one through more considering I don't have a cart, or a horse.

The fort was small, at least I thought it was. Mainly consisting of a small barracks surrounded by walls with a singular tower for scouting. When I showed up and say the number of graves outside and the one recently deceased elderly solider inside I went and buried him along with his comrades.

After cleaning the place up and attempting a few minor repairs giving me the **Carpentry** and **Masonry** skills, I took a refreshing bath and moved on.

It was after another day or so of journeying that I found something else of interest. There was a regiment of soldiers averaging around a level 7 with a level 31 commander. Seeing that they were making their way to the capital of this area someplace named Seiryuu I opted to head in that direction myself. It was at this point that a spotted it on my map.

The fast moving red circle that I was seeing was listed as a level 30 **Wyvern**. Wanting to see it, I did the only thing I could think of at the time and jumped. This however was not one of my wisest decisions as while I did spot it, it also rammed me. Landing with grace of a wet cat being thrown through a tree I picked up a rock and threw it in retaliation piercing its wing.

Seeing that discretion was the better part of valor it retreated.

I was fine leaving it be until I checked the map again. It was heading towards the army.

"I should probably make sure that they are going to fine."

Sprinting through the trees I spotted the two groups in clashing. It seemed like I was worried for nothing. While overall not as strong as the Wyvern the soldiers were using fairly good tactics and while the majority of the arrows were being deflected some were getting through. Also any time the Wyvern tried pushing in to close they were there with a wall of shields and spears to keep it from getting a foot hold and pushing it back up. This however was not taking into account the mages.

While not using what I would think would be extremely effective attack magic they were offering an amazing amount of support. Cushioning the blows of their opponent when it pushed in. Forcing it to the ground allowing their heavy hitters to do massive amounts of damage with swords and axes. There was even the occasional Lightning bolt. Leaving me content to just sit and watch.

Straining my ears I could make out the orders their commander was giving them, putting skill points into the newly acquired **Shigan** language. It was this that gave me the first clue that was something was about to go wrong as the commanders voice which had been a dull roar up until this point straight out screamed to pull back and protect the mages right before the dragonoid dashed faster than I had seen up to this point before rushing the three mages smacking one as they barely got an **Air Cushion** up reducing the strength of the blow and thankfully preventing actual contact.

That was still not enough as the female mage went flying into the air hearing a finale casting of **Lightning Bolt** along with the new spell **Resist Fall** I relaxed slightly before realizing that while her vertical speed had dropped dramatically her horizontal speed was still enough to kill her if she hit something wrong.

Sprinting out of my position I had to start sprinting up the side of a cliff in order to catch her before she hit it. Hooking my arms around her back and knees before cushioning the blow of the cliff with my knees I landed on a root that was growing out of the cliff face.

Seeing her eyes flutter open I said the one thing that came to mind, "I suggest not looking down."

Looking down I saw a wonderfully crafted bow pointed right at my head by one of her solider friends and double checking myself there was nothing beneath me. Who designed this map and what is with the random placement of cliffs?

Not fearing a sixty foot drop as much as that arrow I did the only sensible thing I could think of taking one step forward I fell as the girl in my arms tried squeezing the life out of me. Hah I love high stats.

" **Resist Fall"** that works to.

Landing back on solid ground I let her down, standing on shacking knees she looked up at me like I am some sort of crazy person. "What were you thinking?"

"That I didn't want to get shot be an arrow." Stepping to the side as an arrow zoomed past where I was standing.

"She wouldn't have shot you! You were holding me."

"Ahh good point." Stepping to the side as another arrow zooms past right where I was standing.

"Thank you for saving me. I am going to need to take you in for questioning though."

"That's fine." Taking another step to the side as another arrow buzzed past me.

"LEAVE ZENA ALONE YOU BASTARD!"

Turning around gingerly as she tried to keep pressure off of her right foot. "I am brining him in for questioning!"

Moving forward I bring her right arm over my shoulder to give her some support to help keep weight off of her leg. Moving my head to the side as an arrow nicks my ear. "We will be over there in a bit."

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER YOU BASTARD!"

Par the course.


	2. Chapter 2: Shopping

I am back with the most popular by far SAO X Death March cross over

I may have forgot to put in a short one off scene in this that was in the anime and books… but I don't think it should effect anything… hopefully.

The main difficulties in this chapter are trying to keep everything close enough to Death March because Kirito just hasn't changed that much yet, but also keep it different and fresh for people who don't like reading the same thing over and over again.

Divergences are happening though so shifts have to be occurring at some point I swear.

~Reviews~

DireProphet & flo463 – I am going to be kinda of honest with yea. That was part of the joke. Early on in Death March Satou is for the most part Kirito even going so far as character design in my opinion. That was part of the purpose of this story to point that out. Thank you for calling me out on that though. You should be able to separate them more in this chapter.

Thereaper1331 – There is more dialogue in this chapter. There just aren't a lot of people to talk to in the first one unless it's to himself for the most part.

~Final Notes~

Next update will hopefully be the Naruto DxD thing but we will see. I actually have a beta for that.

~Obligatory Denial~

I really do suggest reading both Sword Art Online & Death March that started in a something or other (next book comes out 22nd, May 2018). They are quite good and might encourage them not to sue me.

~X~X~X~

The commander looked at me as if I was some kind of idiot before recounting what I had told him. "So, let me get this straight. You are a merchant."

"Yes."

"The reason you were coming this way was because you were visiting the soldier's strong hold in order to see the grave of your grandfather's friend."

"Yes"

"Then where is your horse?"

"It was spooked by the meteor shower, I tried catching it but wasn't able to. I was on my way to town in order to get a new one."

"You barely look old enough to be an adult, your parents must have trusted you a lot to lend you that kind of money." Said the wizened commander while raising an eyebrow. "Well you appear to be telling the truth" the man said still sounding skeptical, "thank you for staying out of the engagement for the most part and thank you for saving our pretty little magical solider." A twinkle appeared in his eye while the magical solider, Zena as I had learned, shot him a glare that could make Shino look like an amateur.

I had learned quite a few things after meeting up with these soldiers. The most shocking thing I had found out was that I was no longer 26, it was after checking my stat's page to make sure, but instead 15. When I got stuck in Aincrad I had been 14, and when I finally got out I was 16. This was a chance for me to live that year of my life with the body I couldn't use at the time while being seen as a qualified adult. This was going to be fun.

I was also going to get a ride with the, lightly wounded and one of Zena's friends, Iona. She wore full plate armor with a hand half sword strapped to her back while Zena was wearing a light leather armor under a similarly light chest plate, vambraces, and grieves. The clear need for defense compared to mobility shown between the normal front and back of a formation was clearly demonstrated before me.

The ride itself was fairly comfortable as I talked with a bashful Zena and an outgoing Iona. A fairly large number of topics were covered including what was going to be done with the Wyvern. Through this I learned there was in fact a healthy slave population in Seiryuu and the world at large. Slightly disappointed at this, I quickly changed the topic. "So why did you all join the military?"

"The money." Said the two voices behind me said in almost unison. One continuing, "I am the third son of a common family there was nothing for me at home and the slim chance of moving up in society was better than nothing. We aren't at war either so for now it's fairly low risk."

Iona popped in next, "I wanted to get out of the city and do something before I got married, seemed like the best thing to do at the time."

Zena pipped in quickly, "Same as Iona." Causing her named friend to give her a flat stare.

After we had entered the city the two male footmen escorted Zena to do a debriefing, but not before she had basically sworn me to stay at the Gatefront inn.

After seeing them off, Iona and I made our way to customs with little chatter allowing me to use **Search Entire Map** to get updated data on the town. Nothing was particularly odd but the city statistics did show that there was a demi-human presence the majority of which were slaves and at least one minor demon living in the town.

Making it to the office I was introduced to Sir Thorne. A charming, large, good natured man who smelt of lavender. "Bringing a man to see me Iona never thought that I would see the day."

"Very funny Thorne, to girly for my tastes, if anyone is after him its Zena."

Giving me a knowing eye he moved towards his desk. "If you're here that means there has been a problem then."

"Yes he seems to have lost his papers and needs them reissued."

"Easy enough come over here and place your hands on the Yamamoto stone so I can see your information."

Placing my hands on the stone an AR window appeared before me.

 **Name: Kirito (Change)**

 **Race: Human**

 **Age: 15 [Adult]**

 **Level: 1 -**

 **Affiliation: None (-Empty-)**

 **Job: None (-Empty-)**

 **Class: Commoner**

 **Title: None (-Please Select-)**

 **Skills: None (-Please Select-)**

 **Bounty: None**

Apparently nothing had updated from the beginning of the game and I could select which changes I wanted to be visible. Oddly convenient, thankfully there was not a full create character ability or else I may have been tempted to go and change things just to see if the other people in the room reacted.

Taking my hands off the stone I noticed there was a mirror in front of me. I am proud to say that I began to look more mainly before I came here, but I couldn't defiantly see why people sometimes called me a girly boy even when I wasn't playing GGO. Same black eyes maybe a hint of light coming back into them as I was kept away from my soul sucking job. Same black hair more anime esk then how I remember wearing it but similar to how I had it in SAO. The black wizard robe more hanging then fitting, but that's how robes go for the most part anyway.

"Sheltered much you have an awfully low level for an adult."

Wincing to myself from getting called out so harshly on it more than anything else. "Yea I liked sitting inside and reading more than anything really."

"Ahh. Good to be smart and that just be careful for a bit you should be able to catch up fairly easily. Anyway here's your papers don't lose them this time and this is your visa. I will need one silver for that plus tax." Pocketing the papers and moving them to my storage while grabbing a silver coin. Looking back up to see him holding a 1x1x5 ish block of wood with engraving on it.

Iona cut me off before I reach back into my pocket. "As a thanks for saving Zena the tax is being waved. If that's all I have a little bit more business to attend here."

Getting a nod from Sir Thorne at the mention of Zena he stops me before I could leave. "Your visa is good for ten days if you don't renew it and you get caught it's a silver or slavery if you renew it its only two coppers. If you don't have a place to stay yet I would suggest the Gatefront Inn it's across the way, bit more than other places but, foods good and the rooms are clean. It has a yellow sign out front can't miss it."

Turning towards the door I saw an embarrassed Iona, probably from forgetting to tell me where the inn they wanted me to stay at was. I gave her a smile as I walked out the door. I quickly scanned the area. Unlike in modern times were we basically had to have something right in front of us to see to or so advertisers believed. Here like in Aincrad they favored smaller signs, now if this was because of larger signs being more cost demanding or them just preferring a more low key signs I didn't know spotting the most likely sign I headed out.

Moving my way through the crowded street at a leisurely pace I was suddenly accosted by a young girl who latched onto my arm like some sort of leach refusing to let go. Not that I was particular mad about it feeling a soft warm sensation surrounding my arm. That was until I got a better look at her.

The warm brown eyes and dusty brown hair in a casual side pony tail was about as far as I got before she started dragging me to my desired destination. A check of the AR display showed me her name and that she was thirteen.

Keiko would cry, while she had gotten a bigger chest then when she played as Silica she was still tied for smallest out of all of her friends. Then we have Martha here who was pushing the limits of believability up against my arm in her attempts to get me to go somewhere. As she pulled me towards a door I looked up to see a yellow sign hanging. Well at least she was taking me to the right place.

Entering the door I saw a women who was most defiantly her mother standing behind a bar cleaning up. "Mom I got us another customer."

"Really Martha you need to stop trying to drag people off the street."

"It's ok maim I was actually on my way here when she grabbed me. How much is it for a room for the night?"

"A copper if you want your own room and a bit if you want to stay in the communal room. You also get a meal a day down here."

This was presumably a starting city and I needed information. Staying here a couple days was probably going to be the best method and I had the money to pay in advance. "How much would it cost me for ten days?"

"Two silver pieces."

"It's a deal then." I said reaching into my coat to grab my payment. "Would it possible for me to grab something to eat now or are you done until dinner?"

"You did catch us at an awkward time but I might have something laying around for two bits."

"A night is one bit?" I said confusion leaking into my voice.

I wry smile lite up the older women's face at being called out on her bluff. "One bit it is for some leftovers then. Martha check our guest in while I grab something from the back."

"Righto." Walking behind the bar to grab out a rough paper book she looked up at me expectantly. "Name please?"

More out of reflex then anything I spoke without thinking, "Kirito." Thankfully this used to happen way too often.

She quickly wrote something down before then checking to see if she wrote it correctly. Giving herself a quick node she looked up, "Now your age and occupation."

"15 and I am a merchant."

"Wouldn't have guessed that you were older than me." Then softly more of to herself than anyone else, "Still doable."

The second comment had me chuckling under my breath. Asuna used to swear up and down that I had a "maxed out **Harem Skill** " and that she had to beat other girls away with a stick. While it was true that for a gamer I was good at talking to girls there was no way that that was true.

Also why does everyone think that I am younger then I actual am?

Walking out of the kitchen Martha's mother positioned herself between me and her daughter putting a plate with a Reuben in front of me. "Martha have you cleaned out the rooms of those faint hearted merchants?"

That was an interesting description for people.

"No mom I will get right on that." Running around the bar and up the stairs Martha left me with a wave.

"Faint hearted merchants?"

"Yea they saw the star fall yesterday and you wouldn't have been able to keep them in town if they were given a thousand gold. Kept going on about a demon lord fighting in the Valley of Dragons."

Not my fault, "Demon lord?"

"Yea demon lord. There was one sixty or so years ago but he was killed by the hero. Another one might come around soon, but everyone knows that if he were to appear it would be near Labyrinth not here. The only thing they would need to be concerned about would be wyverns."

"What about dragons? You do have that Valley nearby."

"Not much of a concern. Everybody knows as long as you don't mess with a dragon you are pretty much safe. They like to sleep, so best let them to it. If they do wake up they do cause a lot of problems though. Had one eat almost all of the sheep quite a few years back."

"Hey land lady I need to talk to you." Looking over my shoulder a blond man had walked into the doorway.

"Ahh well I need to help David. I will see you later."

Looking at my plate I examined my sandwich. The bread was dark, the meat a hearty reddish brown, the sauerkraut and swiss blending into a beautiful off white color. I hadn't had one of these since my college days. The salty sour taste cut into the meet as I bit into it, well worth the trouble of me being here.

Having finished the sandwich I was sipping only little bits of water from my water skin an attempt to hold onto the flavor, when Martha came back down the stairs making her way towards the stool next to mine. Not really having anything to talk about, I went with my most pressing need. "Is there anywhere in town where I can buy some pre-made clothes?"

Looking at me strongly for a bit before a wave of understanding hit her, "You meant readymade clothes right? Well if you're ok with used stuff there a couple places on East Street. There are a couple places that sell new clothes like that on Teputa Avenue but they are going to be fairly expensive. I would suggest just getting tailored clothes and those are normally on Center Street."

"Thanks I need to go and find basically everything due to my horse running away from me."

"No problem I can go with you. Let me just go and check with my mother real quick."

~O~O~

Martha was able to get permission to go shopping with me on the condition that she was back in time to help with dinner.

On the way out we ran across two men in their mid-thirties and a lady in her mid to upper twenties trying to check in.

During the trek through the markets I noticed something, that to me at least was odd, everyone was haggling. I had come across it once or twice in a game but, not that often. Outside of player stores like Agil's you just got a preset discount based on your skill level. The exception to this rule was Underworld were each 'NPC' actual had a soul, making them closer to actual players than anything else.

One example of the bartering went something like this.

"How much for three Gabo fruit?" Some sort of fist sized pumpkin fruit thing.

"Two pennies."

"Are you trying to drive me to bankruptcy, one awt to cover it."

"I could say the same to you women how about four for two?"

"Still steep, what say you to five for two."

"I can make it work. Just realize it's only because I like you so much."

I had seen a different groups of people doing this as we worked are way to our target destination. The closer we got the markets shifted from being food venders that looked to be closing for the day towards more of trinket dealers selling more hairclips, pins, and broaches along with a couple people selling soap and the such. A natural progression seeing as we were leaving the food area and working our way towards the more expensive clothes.

As I was looking around at some of the hygiene items that were around Martha had made her way towards a small accessory shop and was looking at the different hairpins. "Kirito how does this look?"

Ahh the age old question. Holding a blue looped hairpin up in order to give me a better idea of how it would look on her. Thankfully I had dealt with this kind of thing before with both my sister and Asuna. "It complements you quite nicely."

"How about this one?"

I see what she is trying to do here. "The red one looks nice, but it blends in with your hair to much the blue one brings it out much better

"I know. How much is it?"

The vender looked up from the piece he was tinkering with seemingly in thought. "Two coppers."

A look of disappointment seemed to cross Martha's face as she slowly put it back. "Maybe next time."

Picking the item up in my hand I gave it a feel, "Two coppers seems like a bit much how about one?"

"I couldn't stay in business if I sold them that cheap. How about a copper and four bits?"

"Wait Kirito you don't need to do this."

"Its fine Martha I want to." Looking back to the merchant, "Still a bit high could you do a copper and two bits… thought so. Three bits per chance?"

"Pleasure doing business with you sir."

"Same have a good rest of the day." Turning the hair piece around in my hand before clipping it into my escort's hair. "See it looks so much better there."

A soft giggle escapes her lips before turning quickly, and dragging me in another direction. We ended up at a mask stand right before she grabbed one and covered her face with it.

Knowing better then to really think deeply on the matter I began looking at the different masks that were in stock. The range of masks was defiantly impressive for a medieval world considering the Power Ranger and mecha knock offs. Sunlight reflecting off one with a mirror finish caught my eye as I picked it up taking a closer look at it. The slight reptilian look it gave off was pretty cool.

"That's the hero's mask, during the festival you wear those when you're playing out the position of the hero. You also wear this," said Martha while reaching out and grabbing a black wig and popping it on her head. "If you are playing one of the Hero's brave companions you wear that blond wig."

After a minute or so of looking between the two while Martha staring at me like I was some kind of idiot… I bought both. They were cool dammit.

The next stop had us looking at rabbits, the fact that we both thought they looked tasty was irrelevant. Also I didn't opt to get one at the time, my cooking was never as good as Asuna's and neither of us could probably get permission to use the kitchen for one thing.

Eventually making it to the original reason we had started this excursion for (buying clothes), I found the store lacking in anything I would actually wear except there excluding underwear. Seeing this I quickly bought a large amount, also grabbing a couple towels before entering intense negotiations with the two sales women. Barely making it out of there with my dignity and a bright orange doublet with hot pink highlighting which I have no clue how I ended up with.

Checking my menu I realized at some point I had gained the **Appraisal** and **Negotiations** skills along with the title **Sucker**.

Thankfully the next store was much better being run by a guy that had to be around eighteen and sold clothes that were more subdued and professional. Seeing this I made sure to pick up a couple shirts along with some pants. While looking at coats he mentioned that his parents ran a tailors shop on the other side of town.

Leaving the clothes I needed along with a coat with someone to take to the hotel, we hit up a cobbler to grab some different shoes. Not noticing any slip on style sandals for showering I put in a special order.

The last destination were the tailors that were recommended. Differing from the other stores that we had been to which had a large number of their wares already made and set up for immediate purchase, they had only a couple of things already made to show what they could do along with different bolts of clothe for you to choose form.

Seeing that Martha had been a bit subdued since after the doublet fiasco, while also looking intimidated by being in such an upscale store I asked her to help me select which style of coat to get. While she started looking at the different coats and trying to figure out what she thought I would look good in, I quietly asked if they could also make a dress for Martha.

I had money to burn and she had helped me a lot, it was worth it.

After selecting two different styles of coats I started the negations. While they were not able to match the quality of the fabric of my wizard's coat, which didn't surprise me, they gave me a reasonable starting price. Mentioning that I was a trader and that I had recently come across some high quality fabric, he asked to bring it in tomorrow to help hammer out the final costs but gave me a rough estimate which seemed fair.

Seeing a red faced Martha walk out of the back along with the owner's wife holding a measuring tape I took me turn going back and getting measured. "She is a sweet little thing you know. I take it your trying to court her?"

"She is that, and no. I just met her today and she was nice enough to show me around."

"That doesn't stop someone from taking a liking to you."

"I don't think I am going to be around long enough to leave an impression on her."

"Right you're a trader my Charles mentioned that. Well I hope you know what you are doing."

"I can honestly tell you that I have no clue what I am doing. I just do what I feel that I need to."

The smile on her face seemed to grow a little bit as an old memory seemed to play in her mind, "That's all you really need to do."

Leaving the store and promising to come swing by the next day to finish everything up we headed back to the inn.

On our way back a wagon filled with people dressed in rag clothes and steel collars passed by. One of the people looked Japanese with another one with purple hair and the title **Mad Princess**. Probably worth looking into later.

~O~O~

It was time.

This wasn't SAO where I could go two years without bathing, this was closer to Under World wear it was like I was actually here which meant. Personal hygiene. I had already bought the necessary soap, and I was going to do this.

I had inquired if they had washing facilities in town. I was politely informed only nobility could use them, however I could wash out back using the well.

The timing was perfect I had specifically targeted a time when no one would be around.

I had already went to the bathroom thankful that they at least had straw to wipe with, I would prefer to come up with something better but it was what they had.

The hedges around the back of the hotel kept people from looking in and some waist high screens kept other people from looking at each other's his and hers. Drawing a couple buckets of water I set them behind the screen I was planning on using.

After disrobing I poured the first bucket over my head. Yep that was cold.

It was about half way through covering myself in suds that the twenty something women I had seen earlier walked up earlier and set out her own screen next to mine along with her own buckets of water. Seemingly without a thought she had disrobed and sat down. The height of the screens prevented us from seeing anything but each other's faces.

With renewed vigor I finished up as quickly as I could dumping the little bit of unused water in the bushes and made a tactical retreat.

~O~O~

Diner seemed to go much better than my attempt at hygiene. Martha was running around taking orders delivering food, and generally just busting tables with remarkable skill easily dodging the hands of men twice her age as they attempted to get a feel.

Having got the recommendation to try the boar steak I did as suggested choosing to have watered down mead to wash it down with.

Before my food arrived the women who I had the pleasure of bathing with earlier sat next to me eventually ordering a salad and some watered down wine. While taking her order Martha deftly halted our conversation by standing between us for some reason.

By the time my meal had arrived I had learned that Denise was a widow of about a year who was returning home after spending much time dealing with her grief and her husband's affairs. The men I had seen her with on my way out with Martha were her husband's friends.

Also rice was a thing in the vintage capital (don't quote me on the name) while only rich people ate white bread (will wonders cease). The stiffness of rye bread could sometimes be annoying but, I really don't see why rich people would specifically go for white bread.

Any thoughts of her being a vegetarian due to her ordering a salad was eventually dispelled as after I ordered some bone in meat to split she tore through it faster than Americans through wings on super bowl Sunday.

As the night as well as the number of drinks we had progressed I gained the **Poker Face** and **Alcohol Tolerance** skills.

Martha gained a pitying/annoyed face whenever she came back to top off our drinks.

Denise gained a trip up the stairs on my back being barely able to stand.

On the plus side Martha called me a gentlemen while showing me Denise's room.

On the down side Martha saw me jump through a window, no glass thankfully, after Denise went for my pants as I put her in her bed then somehow got around me and blocked the door way.

I do hope Martha got out of that one unscathed.

As I went about my leisurely roof jumping the adventure of the past couple of days meandered through my head. There were a couple of things that I came to realize.

One: this was way too realistic and precise to be a conventional video game. Leaving only another Underworld scenario or alternate reality with extremely video game like qualities.

Two: If Denise was any sign I need to avoid drunk older women.

Three: While everything was calm now I probably needed to save the world somehow. Either freeing everyone from the server, or from a demon lord. I as some of my friends jokingly called me videogame Jesus never end up in a video game like this unless something ridicules happens. Alternatively another dimension doesn't summon a hero unless they need it… usually.

Four: The food here is amazing, or I have been eating crap food way to much lately.

Five: Rika and Shino are going to pissed that I bailed on them tomorrow. Unless time flows differently here no way to really check that out.

Six: I really needed to invent easily manufactured quality toilet paper.

Also…

I hope I left my window unlocked.


	3. Chapter 3: A Required Plot Twist

Back with the longest running SAO X Death March crossover.

I swear there is going to be divergences soon… probably.

Honestly a lot of time is spent on Death March on world building. Not the type of world building we usually see though. Specifically it is on weird minor things like food. Actually it is really just food. While ignoring some things that we would consider major like the blatant racism or slavery.

One Two Many Times will totally be updated next I swear.

~Reviews~

Carwash36 & flo64 – Yes it struck again (Insert emoji face at some point)

BBWulf – Has brought up a very good point. I am looking for a beta if someone would like to offer I would be willing to send them the chapter to look at and go over. Writing experience is preferred with an emphasis on grammar. PM and we can talk.

~Obligatory Denial~

You shall pay money to the people who originally came up with these ideas.

~X~X~X~

Honestly the most confusing part of any game is the prologue/tutorial. Everything seems to be going fine then a demon attacks, an evil game developer gains a god complex, or your parents let you go on an adventure (kick you out) to go and have you fight other kids with mythical creatures that can possible destroy the world just so you can become famous.

None of it makes sense.

Kazuto Kirigaya

~O~O~

It was a great morning, girl trying to smother me with a pillow notwithstanding.

"You abandoned me!"

"I was trying to protect my purity!"

"She would have jumped me if I hadn't slammed the door." Finally pulling the pillow off of my face still while sitting on my chest Martha continued turning away, "Anyway your girlfriend is outside."

"My girlfriend?"

"Yea pretty girl, blond, said her name was Zena."

"O yea she said she wanted to show me around today."

Jumping off of me she made her way towards the door trying to put sway in her hips, "You better hurry if you don't want her leaving."

Honestly what was with that girl?

Changing quickly and opting to skip breakfast due to the size of my dinner. I found Zena standing out outside, she was no longer in her armor instead wearing a blue and white skirt and blouse number with a yellow shawl. Her hair was still the same using French braid to allow the rest of it to fall over her back into a nice blond waterfall that stopped right around her shoulder blades.

"Sorry about that didn't realize you were coming this early and slept in."

"It's alright, where do you want to go?"

"Breakfast sounds good." While yes I had planned on skipping it, I could defiantly not skip it and feel no regret.

As we made are way to the food stands. I felt like something was up and looked back just to see Martha waving at us, weird."

The first stall we went to seemed to sell some type of either syrup or caramelized sugar on a stick. I remember coming across something like this before on the rare occurrences that I went to a festival with someone. It was typically cheap and while they probably used white sugar were I was from here they most defiantly used non-refined sugar making it brown instead of clear, but it tasted just as good.

Our next stop was a place that sold bat wings that were marinated in soy sauce. I was able to try one bite before some kid rushed by and bumped Zena causing hers to go up against her white blouse making one heck of a stain.

"I borrowed this from my mother." Well that sucks, there is probably some place to get it cleaned up though.

"I can help." I girl dressed something like a knock off fortune teller. Was this a setup? "I can use every day magic to wash and dry your clothes for you." Yes, yes it was.

In order to keep Zena happy and not fretting about her blouse all day, I better go with this. "How much will it cost?"

"Three large coppers."

Reaching into my pocket in order to pull the money needed for the service. "Ok let's get this over with."

"Let's move into the alley for this."

Wait is she going to mug us to? Moving into a position to get a better view of the entire alley way.

The magic clothes washing lady (apparently called a charmer according to her title) started chanting rapidly. I really couldn't figure out what she said, it sounding more like high speed mumbling to me, but the effects were apparent enough as the stain defiantly came out while also leaving her thin white blouse wet. So… see through.

"Kirito, don't look."

Reaching deep into my inventory I grabbed a spare towel and quickly put it over her shoulders and turned around.

I kind of wish the charmer would have warned us about this first, although now I am thankful that she had us move off the main road. Also on a positive note still no mugging.

"Now for the dry cycle." Once again the mumbling picked up rapidly not allowing me to be able to understand it. A warm breeze seemed to fill the area as the water was pulled from Zena's clothes somewhat condensing into a ball before dropping onto the ground in a puddle, not really splashing somehow.

Thanking the charmer and moving beyond this awkward situation we left the alley to further explore.

Something that I found interesting was that much like SAO and probably unlike real societies of this level the streets were extremely clean. Although the fact that they had a form of internal plumbing as far as the sewer goes probably helps it a lot as far as that goes.

Making our way through the town trying to come up with something to say. "So how difficult is it to learn magic?"

"Well I studied it for three years," a thoughtful look seemed to take over her face, "but if I were to be honest I was probably trained for this my whole life. I was read books about magic as a kid, taught how to recite rhymes, and my toys typically had some component that had me try and push magic into them."

"Sounds like your parents really wanted you to be a mage."

"Yea, while my family is nobility and have served the duke since the creation of Seryuu we really don't own much more than our house. It is kind of a point of pride that we have always served in the military and normally as mages."

"That is something to be proud of. While not part of an army my sister is one of the best swordswomen I know. I always try to cheer for her when I can. I could never get the hang of it and the way you go chanting your spells don't think I can be a mage either."

"Don't say that, I am sure you can be a great swordsman or mage if you put the effort into it. I can help you if you want?"

"Thank you I can always give it a try."

"Is there any where you want to go and see?"

"Looking off the top of the walls could be fun I guess, probably can't do that due to security though."

"I think I can get us in, it's not like anyone other than goblins attack us anyway."

~O~O~

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly for the most part.

We were able to tour the top of the walls, I wasn't able to go through one of the magical turret emplacements sadly. Though their concern about that made total sense.

There was also a pleasant trip to a local church where we meet a friend of Zena's brother. If I had to guess the 'Head' priestess was totally trying to get good will with Zena. Probably should warn her brother.

While there I also learned some of the requirements to wield a holy sword. Apparently you needed to be a **Hero** or else you couldn't use one at all. Sadly long my list of titles may be I had yet to earn the title of **Hero**.So I couldn't use any of my many holy swords I had gotten from looting the Valley of Dragons.

A short walk through the market district lead to take the clothe I talked to the tailors about yesterday lead to us also finding an ointment for dry skin/cuts/bruises thinking of both the kindness Martha and her mother had shown us I bought some. The negations where quick with Zena's help. Apparently she knew the shop keeper from previous trips and was slightly heckled for being to 'cheap' and that being why she wasn't married.

After that we took a lovely wagon ride around the surrounding area. In all honestly it was quite beautiful and comfortable ride the only bump being when the driver 'accidently' hit a rock causing Zena to fall into my lap. The wink the driver gave me immediately after had me really questioning this society's view on age appropriate relationships.

While yes I was technically an adult at age 15 and Zena was 17 making us both 'legal' as far as marriage was concerned therefor for other activities. You also had the strange issue of 20 and 30 year old men making grabs at Martha's posterior the night before. There was defiantly something going on here and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

These thoughts had just finished going through my mind as we finally stopped. Getting out of the cart quickly I then offered my hand to Zena to get out, I noticed that there was a crowed forming around three people that had been chained to the middle of the square.

Some old priest looking guy spoke, "The star fall three days past was a sign that gods are angry with us for housing these demons." His gesture to the three animal people that were chained up, two of which appeared to be ten year olds, made who these 'demons' were fairly obvious. "In order to be saved we must purge the town with these holy rocks which I can give you for only the small price of a copper. Quick help purify this town while you still can, supplies are limited if you buy now I can also throw in a free holy pebble."

The fact that the towns' people were buying this (and the stones) made my heart sink a little. Thankfully without my notice Zena had positioned herself between the poor pointless sacrifices and had cast some sort of wind barrier.

Checking the sacrifices again their names were simply Cat, Dog, and Lizard and were listed as slaves owned by Urs. Urs was not the priest but a sketchy looking guy with a bit of grease in his hair sitting a ways off under a tree who was apparently the guild master of a group called the "Street Rats," and also look at that a minor demon.

Checking my map again looking for guild members, it looked like a few of the crowd members were members and they just so happened to be the ones that were the loudest in the crowd. Yep this was a quick and easy scam.

Making my way to the back of the crowd I subdued one of the Street Rats by placing my hand over his mouth and dragging him into the bushes then punching him in the head to make sure he stayed down. At some point I had made the excuse about him locking his knees or something. This somehow got me the skills **Bluff, Martial Arts, Secret Maneuvers** and **Kidnapping**.

While not really caring for one of the skill names I quickly maxed out all three of them and went to work. It took me about fifteen minutes to finish off all the people in the crowd at one point taking three people in the middle of the crowd at once and claiming "Their wives were mad at them."

When I had finally gotten to Urs he had just realized all of his men were down and had called out for them right around the time my hand had clamped onto his shoulder so I could drag him with me. Walking out in front of the crowd next to the mad priest (a different priest had moved into to help Zena) I made my move.

"People of Seryuu hear me. This priest has deceived you while he claims these animal people have consorted with a demon, while in truth it was he who consorted with a demon. For you see this man I have here is possessed be a demon and has been using his minions to make you all angry enough to buy rocks for stoning people."

Urs slowly stood up my arm still on his shoulder as he grabbed the priest by the throat, "Well guess this is up. HAHAHAHAHAHAHa." His face seeming to crack before an eye ball with wings and a mouth seemed to burst out of his face just to bite the priests head off. That had to go down as the goriest death I have seen.

During my explanation to the crowd and the Urs untimely but inevitable betrayal. The crowd had rioted again due to being swindled, Zena had disappeared, and the remaining priest (the good one) readied his staff and looked like he was going to drop some smite onto this demon. Seeing this I moved to try and knock the demon into better smiting range.

It was right before the priests spell went off when Zena reappeared with large number of guards charging at the minor demon which lead to the next series of events.

Sadly the priest wasn't powerful enough for when his spell **Anti-Evil Field** went off the floating eyeball started laughing before floating up arms sprouting from its torso. Can an eyeball have a torso?

Glaring at the current offenders, me and the priest, it screamed. _"Fools weak. A home for Master I shall create."_ Before flying straight down to slamming its hands into the ground.

The priest made a break for it grabbing an old man in an attempt to get him out of the way. As the beginnings of a magic circle started to take shape.

Spotting the three trapped slaves still stuck in the middle of the square I ran over and broke the bolt holding them to the ground. "Run."

"We can't master told us to stay here if we leave we will die."

Seeing the magic circle coming from the hell spawn get larger by the second and the military about to start chopping at him I grabbed the girls to try and drag them out of the fight. It was right around then that the world went black.

~O~O~

Feeling my senses return I put my hands on the ground to help myself stand as the demon from before rambled about being fair and summoning monsters. The cave I was now in was light up by a soft intermediate glow coming from scattered sections of the walls and ceiling. The room itself was fairly large with one entrance/exit and the three people I had saved.

As I made my way over to make sure that they were fine, they started to get up.

"The man in my head is angry." Said the girl with the dog ears.

"Hello my name is Kirito." The two little girls moved behind the older girl from the looks of it she was 17 or 18 with some scales showing from under her burlap skirt and blouse combo.

"I am Lizard and these two are Dog and Cat. Could I ask for your help finding our master Urs?"

Looking at the info next to them it showed that they were master less, I was willing to take care of them and even release them but I needed everything on the up and up. "I hate to inform you of this but he is dead. Is there any way to tell who owns you now?"

"Normally we would go to his wife or kids but he didn't have any and since we were owned by him and not his guild we wouldn't go to them. We would therefor go to the first person who found us if he was willing and able to pay for the licensing us or to a slave trader."

"Well it looks like you are my responsibility for now then. Let's get you cleaned up real quick then we can figure something out."

Bringing the two girls out from behind her she made sure they all bowed and spoke in unison. "Thank you for taking care of us young Master."

Yep this was going to be weird.

Reaching into the item bag I had hanging from my side I pulled out the **Skin of Never Ending Water** , some extra clothe, and the ointment I had bought earlier today before handing it to them. "We need to take care of your wounds if we are all going to get out of here alive." Reaching into my bag I grabbed a sword about to turn around.

"Young Master wouldn't we be better off saving this for yourself in case you get injured?"

Turning back around to talk to Lizard, "I would yes but, I have already seen too much death I want us all to get out of here alive." Looking at the white haired cat girl with her dress stuck over her head as she tried getting it off and the naked black haired dog girl looking at the seashells the ointment came in with confusion, I released a sigh. "Now help those two while I go and do some quick scouting."

Really I shouldn't be able to see the ribs on a ten year old girl, I needed to think.

"Don't leave us please." Dog almost screamed, I really need to get them new names at least as there temporary master, while trying to follow me.

I looked back at the now panicking little girl walked over to her, looking into her eyes I patted her on the head. This was so wrong. Hearing Lizards clothes hit the ground, I made my decision.

"I wasn't planning on going that far. I will just be over by the door making sure nothing sneaks up on us, I will do my best to protect you got it." Feeling her hair shift under my hand. Standing up I turned around making sure not to look in the direction of Lizard as I headed towards the door.

Going into my menu I did a quick scam of the dungeon. What the map showed was something of a cylindrical shape filled with twisting passages ways with one central vertical shaft. Throughout the entire dungeon there were scattered towns people, somehow a large number of soldiers were grouped together along with Zena. It really made me wonder how everyone was dispersed throughout the entire thing considering the priest that was helping me fight the demon earlier was clear on the other side and we were like ten meters apart when we got teleported.

The demon had mentioned in his short monologue that all the rooms were somehow connected to the exit the only problem I had was that there was no clear exit. There were a couple passages that had promise but no room listed as the exit.

"Are you all done cleaning you selves up back there?"

"You can look Young Master."

"Please Lizard can you give me a yes or no answer."

"No."

This was going to be a long day."

~O~O~

After that incident, I gave them a good bit of food so they wouldn't collapse on me as we made are way through the dungeon. While we ate I asked them if it was ok if I changed their names, a quick yes left me with the problem of trying to come up with names.

Yui bless her little AI heart thankfully came pre named so I really hadn't had to deal with coming up with names until I convinced myself I needed to name my pet fish. I latter realized this was going nowhere after I had accidently killed the third one after spending three days at work and still not coming up with a name that was not fish followed by a number. I had the naming habits of a programmer.

Thankfully Lizard had an old name before Urs changed it the problem was I couldn't pronounce it leaving me to try and abbreviate it to Liza. So not that different.

The other two left me in a pickle though because Urs had originally bought their mothers while they were pregnant and then had killed them when they couldn't work due to just giving birth and starvation. Which while heart breaking Liza told me it was common for animal people slaves and I shouldn't worry about it.

That honestly didn't help.

But I still didn't even have a starting name to base their names off of. So I did the best I could and named them after my coworkers pets.

I couldn't name them after any of the girls I knew or they would kill me if I ever got out of this.

After that was over with I handed my sword to Liza even though she didn't have a sword attribute type skill. She did however have **Spear** listed under her skills and so hoping that having at least a little combat ability would help her with it and not wanting to try and pull a spear out of my bag and scare all of them. I had Pochi (the dog girl) try and listen for stuff and tell me if she could smell something off and Tama (the cat girl) on look out. I was in the front so I could react and holding a **Magic Gun** while I was no Sinon with a gun but I had played with her a bit and could handle the basics.

Depressingly the gun had a slight delay but it would work just fine after I get used to it.

The first thing to tip me off that there was something up ahead was a gentle pull on my cloak from Pochi followed by Tama whispering about seeing something up ahead.

Making our way slowly we eventually were all able to see a giant spider eating what was left of some poor guy who had been killed. The spider was clearly distracted I was about to try and sneak up on it when Liza finally spoke up. "If we sneak up behind it we should be able to kill it before it notices us."

Looking back at her I nodded quickly before going and initiating the plan. Spotting a point which I figured to be a weak spot I raised the **Magic Gun** and fired off three rapid shots only the first one hitting what I was aiming for and the other two going wide but still injuring the spider as it fell to the ground dead.

Liza moved up next to it to make an incision with the sword before she handed it off to me then shoved most of her arm into the monster.

Using the sword I went to work trying to assemble a spear out of one of the sharp feet and the long legs. "Can we even eat that?"

"Doubtful, I am trying to find its monster core. We can sell them for a lot of money when we make it back to the surface."

"Ahh, that makes sense." Finishing tying the edged like foot onto a splint forming a sad parody of a spear a new few skills popped up on my menu **Weapon Crafting, Entomology, Disassembly, Demonology, Leather Crafting,** and **Woodwork**. Quickly maxing the skills out I took apart my crappy spear and went about making a new one.

Apparently the demon's regen still worked to a minor extent because now I actually didn't need to tie the spear tip to the shaft as they had fused together. I still ended up making sure it would stay on by also wrapping with a leather strip then went and added a counter weight on the bottom of it.

With my now much better spear finished I looked up again to see the two girls staring up at Liza in awe as she held a dark red orb her entire right side covered in a green ooze. "We should probably teach the Tama and Pochi how to get those and figure out a way for them to defend themselves. While I work on that you let's put that core in the bag and you wash yourself off again."

Putting the orb in the bag I reached into it again to pull the water skin and turned around to grab the spear I had just made to her. "Here is the water and a spear for you to use for now."

Liza, was now using her top to try and wipe off her right arm, before looking up at me. "Ah thank you Master."

This was defiantly going to be a long day.

Or was it night already?

On a positive note free shoes.


	4. Chapter 4: The Dungeon Crawl

Death March Online, Now on page fifteen of sword art online crossovers sorted by favorites. Eat that Thomas the train crossover.

So this chapter took a bit more work to do than others. Partly because it is so long partly because there are some major differences in the different mediums here.

(Spoilers)

For example one character only appears in the Web Novel.

The demon fights are entirely different.

The anime skims a lot of the back end stuff focusing on fights.

An entire scene is only in the Light Novel and Manga.

Another scene is only in the Web Novel.

So aside from me making changes in order to try and get more character development which probably fell flat and I am going to need to fix in the next two or three chapters. Making changes due to how Kirito will do different things a lot happened that I needed to work on and think through.

~ Reviews ~

Carwash36: Thank you.

Guest: You bring up an amazing point.

kyo: While yes it was annoying you also need to realize that Satou didn't want his vacation ruined and sees everything as not effecting him. Kirito while thinking that this is easy mode hates it when he lets literally anyone die so he will be more aggressive with this and try to help people more.

The Rupture: Will do.

~X~X~X~

 **Official merchandise, buy the great I says. Own nothing, dawnwatch does**

~X~X~X~

When we eventually got moving again I checked our statuses to see if there was any difference. It turns out there wasn't, unless you counted me gaining a negligible amount of XP.

It appeared that this was a game that didn't split experience to everyone in a party. Meaning I was going to have to go about this differently. With everyone's current levels I couldn't risk them being in the front line due to their low health and defense stats, they needed to stay at range. Thankfully Liza's spear would keep her at a decent distance I just needed to think of something for the other two.

Hopefully experience would be split evenly amongst everyone who participated as opposed to being proportional to the amount of damage done.

"Tama I need you to pick up some rocks to throw next time we fight a monster."

"Yes sir."

"You don't need to call me Sir."

"But if we don't call you Sir we will get in trouble?"

"I won't get mad at you I promise." Reaching over I tussled her hair causing her to also try rub her head into my hand an almost purr escaping her lips as her white tail to start slowly swaying side to side.

Looking back up I say Liza looking at me oddly, "Master we are slaves. It would be odd if we didn't offer you some sort of respect."

"Well call me what you like."

Checking my map it showed two level ten hornworms up ahead along with three survivors a little ways past them we would probably get to the first hornworm relatively quickly but if we didn't make an effort the other group of people might get taken out by the last worm.

"Sir, there is a monster on the roof."

A quick look up revealed nothing after a little bit of focusing on a particularly dark spot a readout appeared. Using my magic gun I fired a handful of low intensity rounds at it. The minor delay between the trigger was starting to bug me a little bit but didn't affect my accuracy enough to mater in this case as a man sized worm fell to the ground.

"Tama throw your rocks, Liza keep your distance but I need you to keep attacking it with your spear."

After they had gotten a couple hits in on the worm I ended up finishing it off with a rock. Checking my map it looked like the other trapped group was about to hit the incoming worm. "Tama give your rocks to Pochi then help Liza get the monster core. Pochi come with me real quick."

Making our way quickly through a short section of tunnels we came into a chamber catching sight of one guy running out of a side passage while a slave sprayed with acid in front of a girl that appeared to be around my apparent age.

"Tama throw the rocks now. You can go back when you run out."

While I had gotten her to throw the rocks… the accuracy was less then desirable. She did hit the monster a couple of times before turning around and screaming as she ran down the wrong tunnel in her attempt to get back.

Ramming the sword I was borrowing into the monster finishing off its health before turning to chase after Pochi. "I will be right back miss."

Sprinting down the corridor I finally caught up to the little dog eared girl and picked her up. She kept lashing out as I tried to calm her down. "Pochi it is me calm down."

Thankfully hearing my voice did get her to settle down. "It's ok to be scarred and run but you need to be careful and pay attention to everything around you ok. You also need to make sure you tell us before you do it so we can make sure to try and defend you when you run ok."

She looked down at the ground sadly, "I am sorry sir."

"Its fine we all make mistakes, the important part is that we learn from them." Ruffling her hair quickly got her tail wagging again. "Let's go meet up with the others."

 **Skill Gained "Animal Taming"**

That's pretty insulting, still should points in it just in case.

The trip back to the room with the girl I had abandoned to chase down Pochi wasn't that far maybe a hundred yards or so, it still took us a bit to get back due to having our talk and the inherent speed difference between running and walking.

Getting a better look at her read out she was apparently a 14 year old noble girl named Tana Belton with the skills **Social** ,and **Etiquette.** While not useful for us here I can see where they would come into play with her life. Probably wouldn't be the best idea to have her help us fight but… with the number of people we have I should at least make sure that she can defend herself.

Giving a short bow, "My apologies miss I needed to make sure that my servant didn't get hurt. I hope I didn't distress you."

 **Skill Gained "Etiquette"**

Lets max that out real quick.

With a slight curtsey she introduced herself, "Thank you for rescuing me. I am Tana Belton the daughter of the Viscount. You will be rewarded handsomely if you get me out of this whatever this is safely. Unlike the last fools."

Checking my map real quick and seeing that the runner from earlier was getting eaten by a snake monster I agreed with her. Even though I don't think they could have won without me anyway.

"Kirito at your service. It would be our pleasure to protect you. Even though I am a merchant I feel that you will be safe with us. The rest of our party is this way if you would kindly follow us."

Making our way back to Liza and Tama I checked Pochi's stats to see if the plan had worked.

Thankfully it did with Pochi almost leveling up.

Liza and Tama probably got less exp due to everything getting split more ways, but this would allow us to level up faster and make sure that they all got out of the labyrinth safely.

The real trick was going to be finding a way to get Tana in on this. A higher level would make her easier to guard and she would overall be safer but, A she was a girl, B she was a noble, and the most damming of all C this was an escort quest.

While the first two problems typically had roll reversals in the shape of warrior princesses and such they rarely appeared as the subject of an escort quest. Thus leaving the prim princess.

Well I am going to have to deal with that latter.

"Tama are you done getting the core?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. This here is Tana Belton we will be guarding her." Motioning to the different girls in front of me, "This is Liza, Tama, and Pochi. Now to go back and clean out the worm in the other chamber." Tana gave me a flat look while the other three quickly nodded

After having Liza teach Pochi how to collect the monster core of the worm that had threatened Tana (much too so said noble's disgust) and the dead slaves shoes.. We headed towards the direction that the last member of her party went to go and fight the snake that killed him and grab his shoes.

To be fair only me and Tana had shoes and with the way the floors were the others would be having problems soon if we didn't get them some sort of foot protection. Otherwise I probably would have just avoided the chamber to begin with.

The challenge was trying to get Tana to participate so she could gain levels.

"Master there is something in the room ahead."

"Thank you Tama. Liza I am going to need you to stand behind me and attack from a distance. Ms. Belton could I get you to help Pochi and Tama throw rocks?"

"Shouldn't you be guarding me, and not have me do the fighting?"

"That is true, but we don't have enough people to leave with you in a corridor so you need to stick with us meaning the faster it dies the safer you will be. The more people attack it the faster it dies."

"Fine. I will help, but only because you explained yourself peasant."

Getting into positions we walked into the room. I couldn't spot the body of the deserter but the size that the snake was it probably had swallowed him whole and we was being digested.

Spotting us the snake raised its head out of the coil it was laying in. The display next to its head said it was a large snake what it didn't say was that it had fangs that were about the size of my arm.

"Liza if looks like it is going to try and bite us I am going to try and divert it. I need you to try and take out its eyes. Everyone else when it goes for a strike start throwing rocks at it."

"Yes Master."

"Aye sir."

"Mhm."

"Fine."

Moving forward with Liza behind me I softly throw a rock to gain its attention.

Staring at me even as its head continued to swing from side to side. A slight pause in tis movements caused me to jump to the side as its head started to shoot down at where I had been. Firming up my stance I kicked out slightly to make sure that it didn't hit Liza as she lunged at it taking its right eye before jumping back to a safe distance as rocks began to pelt it.

Letting out a screeching hiss it went back up to strike again looking at the rock throwing girls.

Firming up the grip of the short sword in my hand I ran quickly in front of everyone causing the monster to look at me again striking without hesitation shifting towards its blind side I braced myself for a horizontal strike.

Catching the corner of its mouth with my sword I tried to hold it steady as it almost knocks me over as I started to cut through it before it had pulled back the left side of its mouth a good three feet longer.

Luckily Liza was able to take out its other eye leaving it effectively blind.

Reaching its peak height again it quickly lashed out at where we were. Moving to the side I quickly jumped on top of its head and drove my sword down into it's brain killing it.

Grabbing the hilt of the sword stiffly I pulled up dislodging it from the snake. "Liza show me how to grab the core and anything else useful before we move out."

~O~O~

The rest of the day proceeded fairly smoothly.

Tana thankfully continued to indulge me in helping us clear the monsters faster. This probably slowed down everyone else's leveling but, not enough to matter and with the extra people I was more willing to chance a couple rooms for them to get experience for the girls.

Due to everyone's low levels we needed to take several breaks to regain stamina. This turned out to be beneficial due to needing approximately an hour resting period for new skills to become active after they leveled up.

I had picked up a couple trap related skills, everyone but Liza had picked up **throwing** , everyone but Tana picked up **Disassembly** , and Tana had picked up **Fire Magic**.

It was nice that we had a spell caster with us but she hadn't used any magic yet, probably due to not knowing that she had it. As it stood she would probably find out next time she practiced.

I had just watched them finish off a level 10 **Toad** by themselves. I had opted not to help them in order to better see how they were coming along in their training.

Liza was acting as a good Vanguard keeping the toads attention and getting a decent amount of damage in.

Pochi and Tama were harassing and trying to disable it by slashing it with the largest knives that we had found.

Tana was staying back for the most part trying to hit it in debilitating areas by throwing one of the many knives she now had strapped to her person.

The fight had went well with Tama badly injuring its right leg early on and Tana getting a knife lodged into its left leg effectively making the monster immobile. With that that it was just avoiding its ranged tongue grab attack. Which they did handedly.

"Good job everyone."

Walking up to the monster Tana grabbed the knife and wrenched it out before wiping it off on a cloth we had come across. "It's not like you helped."

"I can't always be there I needed to make sure you would all be fine if you had to fight something without me."

"Whatever."

"Master. Would it be all right if I started a fire and cooked some of this frog meat?"

"Is it safe to eat?"

"I have had it back before I was a slave."

"That's fine then Liza. Tama, Pochi help Liza for a bit. I am going to go check out that house the frog was guarding."

A closer look at it would show that it appeared to be that part of a house was just thrown into the dungeon somehow. A quick check of the front door showed that it was locked, grabbing some wire out of my storage I was able to jimmy the lock giving me the **Lock Picking** skill along with **Breaking and Entering**.

Searching the house and using my video game experience I stared putting everything that wasn't a non-removable item into my storage I was able to find one safe behind a picture frame and a few hiding spots underneath the area rugs. The main thing that I found to be of interest aside from the well-stocked pantry where the magic books, potions, large wash basin, and some beds.

Heading back outside to watch Liza working with the frog in order to make it a meal and the rest of the girls staring in a mix of awe and curiosity. I made sure to give her most of the spices I had just pilfered before doubling back in to grab the tub. Then using a pot and my water skin went about heating water for the tub for everyone to use.

"I think we will be resting her for a bit there are some beds in the house and it would be a shame to waste them. After we get done eating we should all wash up before we go to bed."

"I will be taking a bath first."

"Of course Tana will you be needing Liza's assistance?"

"Yes."

Looking over at Liza I gave her a brief node which she returned in kind. "While you are doing that I will take Tama and Pochi out on a short patrol to help them learn how to use the short swords that I found in the house."

"You're going to leave me?" A hint of worry leaking into Tana voice.

"It will only be for a little bit and we should be able to still hear you if something comes up. You and Liza should be strong enough to hold most everything we soon off until we get back and if it comes down to it you can retreat to the house over there."

"Very well if you insist."

Everything went fairly smooth as we continued discussing lighter topics.

When we did get to eventually eating it was fairly good. Tana went right into eating it with only a minor complaint that it was chewy, the other three sat nervously until I told them they could eat it at which point a look of almost absolute bliss almost humming to themselves 'meat'. Overall I would eat it again Liza had chosen a good selection of spices to compliment it and I had been interested in trying frog legs ever since Asuna threw all the ones I had collected out all of those years ago.

Losing myself in thoughts of a better time I slowly continued eating.

~O~O~

 **"Fire Shot"**

Watching as the scroll in my hand went blank as the magic was pulled out of it and a bit of steam wafted from the amoeba like slime only one thing came to mind.

Well that was disappointing.

 **Spell Acquired "Fire Shot"**

Well at least that came out of it. Time to max that out.

"Master if you would pardon me. If you strike the core you can easily beat them." Liza quickly leveled her spear and rammed it into the sentient liquid causing it to lose cohesion.

"That makes sense. I am assuming the core is the discolored portion?"

"Yes master. A slimes doesn't really solidify making it almost impossible to gather component from them but rather easy to destroy."

"Good to know we aren't really after money here so let's just work on killing them quickly. Is the liquid worth anything?"

"If I remember correctly its worth a bit but it will eat through pretty much anything short of glass and special bottles."

Putting some in a bottle I watched as Pochi and Tama poked it with a stick and Tana stared at me like I was an idiot.

Overall our "second" day in the dungeon was going well.

Tana had found out this morning that she could cast fire magic. Hers was a marginally more powerful version of the same spell I just used. The look on her face when she found out she could finally use something she had been practicing for years was something of wonder. Her dismay when she realized she had almost burnt the entire house down was also one of interest.

All my parties levels had continued to increase at a steady rate due to an increase in more or just higher level monsters.

It appeared that as the dungeon "matured" into what it "should" be the monsters were adapting accordingly. The ones that had not already been killed were getting steadily stronger either through killing people or drawing strength from the dungeon itself. While new lower level monsters spawned behind other parties that were able to kill their opponents. Considering that the only entrance was at the top of the dungeon this would eventually lead to only low level monsters at the top and high level monsters near the bottom. That is assuming people regularly go in in order to seek glory and fortune.

If not a high level super dungeon may occur.

This was brought to my attention earlier while I punted a level forty something wolf through a wall after it somehow got the drop on me.

Luckily no one saw that or I would have to deal with Tana nagging at me that I should just carry her all the way out while the others stared at me with sparkly eyes. Liza might have nodded solemnly but my point still stands.

"Sir there is a bunch of white stuff up ahead."

"What do you think it is Tama?"

"It kinda looks like a spider web, buts it's big to be that."

"A lot of the things that we have been fighting are pretty much just bigger versions. This is probably just a really big spider. Everyone watch the ceilings and any holes in the floor."

As we got closer the room was what I thought it would look like from what Tama had said, the door way was almost blocked due to the webs and the rest of the room wasn't any better. There were a couple of balls of webbing suspended above the floor, victims from our currently missing spider. "Tana and Tama keep a look out for monsters the rest help me open these up there might be survivors."

Considering the number of people that had been captured I was fairly surprised after opening my third one and finding a survivor the readout above his head said he was Viscount Jin Belton probably making him Tana father.

"Father!" Confirmed.

"Sir, the spider is coming." That's just great.

Running past Tana as she ran to her father and in front of where Tama was pointing I caught sight of the incoming arachnid as it crouched down. Bringing myself into a guard stance I braced for the incoming assault.

Now one thing that I have yet to really find a way to fix is my mass. When fighting it is important to keep your balance and if you have to block you need to transfer the incoming energy into the ground. That was part of what proper stances allowed. These helped make up quite a bit of difference, my problem was that the spider, which had just launched itself, would be hitting me with a fair amount of horizontal energy and was about four times my weight.

"Liza strike near the legs try to disable them, everyone else attack from range."

Sliding back as my sword bit into its fangs as I was forced back in my attempt to stop it almost getting knocked over in the process. Slowing to a stop seeing a spear shaft lash out around, me followed closely by rocks and a knife.

" **|||||| Fire Shot.** " Tana's magic washed over the black bulbous body the heat causing it to reel back temporarily. Giving me enough time to disengage it and slash through its side taking off its right legs before jumping back out of its way.

"Tana get your father out of there the rest of you get everything you can off of that spider be quick the webbing is catching fire."

Checking my map quickly to figure out where the rest of the survivors I rushed to cut them out and sent them out of the room started to fill with smoke.

"Everyone get out of here now!"

Thankfully we had all left through the same door and were able to meet up. I probably should have specified which door we needed to go through before that happened but, lesson learned.

The smoke pooled at the top of the chamber slowly leaking out of the door way and up through the passage ways. After the excitement from the last room we all took a breather and had some food. Tana hugged her father tightly, while the girls acted as look outs, and I talked to the other two survivors.

Nidoren was a forty something year old slave trader he seemed well but you could tell he was in barely good enough condition to take care of himself let alone try and help us through the dungeon. His skills pointed to him being a fairly good merchant with **Animal Taming** I really want to figure out what that had to do with slaving exactly aside from using horses to transport them maybe. Then again I got it when instructing Pochi maybe it triggered off animal people to, that's pretty racist.

The last one hadn't even given me his name before he started going off on how he was surprised I could even be around animal people for so long and how had it must have been hard to keep them alive for this long. The fact that he was a level 3 and the next lowest in our current group was Nidoren at 11 almost four times his level I could only look at him like an idiot.

"I would have had just as much of a problem dragging your butt through here kid and unlike you I actually like them." Walking away to make sure that everyone else was ok I caught a glimpse of Nidoren heading over to nameless prick A, to explain the rules of the playground to him.

~O~O~

By the time we had cleared the spider room we were actually pretty close to the exit with the only other group of survivors ahead of us by a fair bit.

We moved slightly slower than we had been for several reasons.

Tana was being instructed by her father in the finer arts of blowing stuff up. This caused us to draw out our combat so she could practice more and her father then had to carry her on his back so she could recover her mana faster.

Nidoren had a limp from an old accident that started to act up if he didn't take periodic breaks.

Prick A had to try and prove himself stronger then the animal girls leading to him almost getting his head taken off by a skeleton, and his shirt getting removed by a slime. At some point he fractured his arm causing me to lend him a minor potion of healing. His face was entertaining to look at when Nidoren told him the cost. Thankfully due to all of his mishaps he had at least went up a level.

Overall it had been going well.

"Sir there is a bunch of yelling and clanking up ahead."

"Viscount Belton there appears to be a conflict up ahead we will go and try to resolve it before you get there. Is that acceptable."

"That will be fine. Do be careful Tana seems to be quite found of you."

A brief nod was all he got before I had turned around motioning for the animal girls to follow me. I made sure to stay with them as we ran, when it appeared we were about to enter the room I pulled the sword from the sheath I had started using to store it on my back.

Leveling it out I rammed it into the core of the closest slime, while trying to figure out the situation in general around the room.

It wasn't good.

While the humans (which included Zena and the priestess whose name I have forgotten) outnumbered the slimes by a fair margin, there utter inability to kill the slimes left them in a bad position. Apparently there instant kill point was unknown and there almost complete immunity to damage not taken to their core made them an almost impossibility to take out otherwise.

"Tama, Pochi work on pulling the attention of the slimes off of everyone attack them if there is a good opening. Liza focus on saving people the slimes have pinned but otherwise just take out as many possible."

"Aye SIR!"

"Nyah" Where did that come from Tama?

"Yes Master."

Moving over where it appeared Zena was trying to protect the priestess and her companions that also ended up here I came to the conclusion the world hated me.

Zena was pinned up against the wall trying to use her staff to push away a slime that was trying to get to her. The slime being undeterred by the stick started absorbing it causing the girl to start panicking.

Reaching into my inventory I pulled out a handful of pennies and started throwing them at the slimes as I passed them. My level made this almost too easy, thankfully due to everyone panicking they didn't notice I was the one doing it and instead tried helping their friends.

By the time I had reached Zena the slime had already gotten into her blouse and was trying to pull on it for some reason, thankfully it didn't follow that recently overused cliché of eating people's clothes. Not wanting to risk injuring Zena I opted to not throw a coin instead planting my foot down to help me change direction as I brought my sword around in a slash, hitting the core, before dashing off to attack another slime near the group.

Thankfully due to my groups training we were able to move through the room quickly and killed the twenty odd slimes.

After a quick check to make sure my party was ok, and a glance at the map to make sure Tana's group was also fine I made way over to Zena. Somehow the slime that was attacking her had gotten into her top and torn it and her chest bindings. Thankfully she had noticed this and was covering herself by crossing her arms. The outfit she was wearing was in surprisingly good condition considering the amount of time she had spent down here. My own clothes were soaked in blood and covered in dirt, the animal girls were in a similar situation, Tana just had dirt due to being a ranged fighter but there were still a large number of tears and cuts on what was once a fine dress. Zena thankfully only had that one tare, not that it helped much when she saw me heading her way and went for a hug.

"Kirito your safe!"

"Zena your dress?!"

She latched onto me regardless, babbling things that I am not even going to pretend that I knew what she was saying. Honestly I had been with this girl for the upwards of half a day if I was feeling generous how did she even get this attached to me.

I slowly put her arms around her and patted her back.

"It's going to be ok."

The priestess seemed to be making her way towards us. "So forward there is only one thing to do then. Do you Zena take this scruffy black haired boy as your husband till death do you part?" The mirth dancing in the priestess eyes was apparent to anyone that was looking at her, Zena however was clearly not.

"Ye… were not like that were just friends, not that I wouldn't like to be more but we just meet but I want to. AGH!"

My hand started slowly making circling motions on her back. "Zena calm down."

"Ok Kirito."

"Zena."

"Yes Kirito."

"You are still hugging me."

Jumping away from me as if I was on fire or something else her face started to heat up.

Reaching into my bag in order to pull out one of my extra shirts I had bought, was that two todays ago? "Zena."

"Yes Kirito."

Throwing the shirt at her. "Your chest is exposed."

Well her face was going fire engine red at about the expected speed as she tried to cover herself. "Did you see anything?"

Grabbing her shoulders I turned her around and started walking her to a corner of the cave. "Just change your top already."

"Black haired ruffian you are supposed to wait till you are married before you take a girl into a private place."

"Were not like that women!"

Heavily sarcastic priest I know I have seen that somewhere."

~O~O~

After Zena finally got her shirt changed she ended up getting dragged into a strategy meeting with Viscount Belton to help clean out a bunch of skeletons in the next room which from what they could tell looked like it was going to be the last room.

Meanwhile I watched Ohna, apparently the priestess (the one trying to get Zena's brother) name, cast an AOE type healing spell getting me both **Holy Magic (Parion Faith)** , **Healing Magic** , and **Holy Magic Resistance**. Why I would use the second one I don't know but I maxed all of them and turned the last one off.

Clearing the next room went well with the soldiers making sure all of the civilians were safe one room back. It took me some work to allow me to watch with Jin vouching for me in the end allowing me to stand in the back incase everything went sideways.

While they were busy fighting the skeletons I worked on bouncing rocks off of the ceiling at the one skeleton with in instant kill attack. Dance sucker dance. When it looked like they had cleared everything out I went back to go and grab everyone else.

It was on my way back that I heard that one phrase I had hoped I would never hear again.

"Hey guys I found a chest!"

Damn it!

 _"Good trick, hiding to the end. Hope los AHHH!"_

It was almost weird how that knife appeared in the middle of the monsters eye without me noticing it. Also I was trying to remember why I had my hand stretched out like I did.

Thankfully now the eyeball demon thing that had reappeared was down to a sliver of its health.

 _"Defeat, this close already? Summon master I must."_

Depressingly he somehow had become immune to damage. If this was a game, which I was less and less likely to believe the longer I stayed here, I would have said he entered a cut scene. A large magical circle appeared beneath him as a goat headed demon started to appear. I would say it looked like the level 74 boss The Gleam Eyes but to be honest they were probably estranged cousins at best. This thing had an extra set of arms, wings, but only a regular tail. At a whopping level 62 the Demon Lord was easily twice the level of pretty much everyone here.

I was working on grabbing a holy blade of some type when the next problem appeared. While not near the level of the Demon Lord a level 40 wolf type monster was defiantly a threat and the way it was charging Zena and Ohna wasn't going to end well.

Changing my course I rammed my shoulder into the monster crashing us into what was supposed to be a wall. Apparently it wasn't anymore. Using the wolf as a spring board I was able to make it to the far wall and see the area where I had kicked the previous wolf through earlier adjusting myself I jumped in the direction landing aways down from the main group of survivors.

Working on changing my equipment as I ran. Removing the cloak, the defenses were nice but I needed mobility. Changing out my normal sword for two holy swords, the increased cutting power was more important than secrecy in this case. Leather upper armor, while not the best against swords should help stop gashes from rocks if I get knocked around. Silver mask and blond wig. While secrecy was not required it would be inconvenient if people kept coming to me to save them also note mask does not hamper vision.

While not being able to run at full speed due to all of the turns I had to take to get back to demon lord I was able to run on the walls unlike I would have in a traditional game in order to help me keep my momentum making it a grand total of about five minutes I was gone.

It just goes to show you how fast things could go downhill.

The civilians were back in the corridor fighting off a wave of skeletons that had spawned behind them. While not high level the number was a problem, a problem that was dealt with quickly as I slowed down slightly and started into one of my old sword skills. My body remembering those old actions with greater ease as I quickly worked through them before jumping when I had reached the last of the skeletons clearing everyone in the hall and continuing on my way towards the demon.

 **Skill "Two Weapon Fighting" unlocked**

A spear of light rammed into its face quickly followed by a large gust of wind boosting the power of large fireball that quickly followed.

 _ **"Impressed I am not. Defeat of my subordinate I question. Your champion, the great I seek."**_

Landing at his feet I jumped angling my swords to take his arm off. The little damage I took from wielding a sword I am unqualified to use should was minor compared to the damage a holy sword should do.

A quick glance at his stats showed that while I was gone he had added a bunch off buffs from almost complete physical damage negation and high magic reduction all the way to buffing his strength.

Looking around the room as I neared the peak of my jump I could see most of the soldiers had been pulled towards the corridor out of the fight and what was left of the front line was haggard including a pair of level thirties and the rest of my combat capable party. The lower level priests were doing their best to heal people and cycle them back in and the higher level ones were trying to pump out as many "Holy Spears" as possible but you could see the strain start to manifest. Zena and the Belton's were in a similar boat with Tana already leaning up against the wall trying to recover what little magic she had.

 _ **"Hero, foolish. More of me there is the more you cut."**_

A glance to where his arm landed showed the proof of his statement as his arm started morphing into a demon well there went that plan. Stabbing him could still work there wouldn't be anything removed preventing the spawning but even losing the arm didn't really cause his health to drop and he was already re-growing a new one.

When I had reached the apex of my jump, somewhere near the ceiling, I had decided on my next course of action. While magic was not appearing to be very effective it was taking the demon longer to regen from the magic attacks. Also I needed cover so I could land without taking the beating of a life time.

Sheathing my swords I stuck my hands out as triggered the **fire shot** spell from my menu in rapid succession hopping to offset its relatively weak power with a large number even if a few would miss. Unluckily I would not be able to dodge the upcoming breath attack but an interrupt should work nicely.

I had fired off four shots when the breath attack hit causing my gloves to crumble as I gained a slew of resistances to poison, debuffs, petrification, and instant death attacks which I quickly maxed out. That was also about the time my first spell hit something. To say that the minor demon was now absent from the battlefield would imply that the battlefield was still there as opposed to the pit of lava that was now that section of the floor. The greater demons eyes widened right before two of the other shots hit him the last one going wide but still causing significant splash damage as his health quickly fell. To about quarter of his original.

The only explanation I could come up with that being that the level was an expediential ramp in power but that would be stupid if each level only cost one point? Though there was a marked increase in power when I had cast a level ten **Meteor Shower**. This really isn't the time to think about that though.

There is one important thing I remembered though. A demon at most is the same level as a god, and hadn't I killed one of those?

A black Katana appeared at my waist as I landed on the outside pit of molten stone that the demon was now standing on drawing it quickly, raised it up for my final attack.

Jumping I rammed it straight into the chest of the demon piercing it's heart watching the health bar disappear as a look of anger crosses the demons face.

 _ **"Defeated, the great I am… How could this be?"**_

His body broke apart as I kicked off of his chest landing on solid ground.

Zena immediately looked over to the hole where I had fallen through earlier looking over it. "Don't worry Kirito we will get you!"

What was with that girl?

As I worked on my way over to the hole I spotted the rest of my party heading over to the hole to look in while it looked like Viscount Belton was making his way towards me.

"Thank you for assisting us hero. May I enquire what that fire spell you used was?"

Disguising my voice in order to sound like Sean Connery, figure out who I am now why don't you. "It was my pleasure, to assist you all today. The spell I used was Fire Shot."

 **Skill "Disguise Voice" unlocked**

"Truly that was a stating spell."

"To be honest I don't know much magic, what I do know I master. Even the most simple of spells can have enormous power, if you know them well enough. Do you know what happened over there?"

"Ah indeed a brave man saved charged and ended up pushing some sort of demon wolf through that wall in an attempt to protect that young lady over there. Sadly he also fell when the wall gave way."

"Yes, I see. Fear not young maiden I will go see if he is fine and make sure he makes it back up safely." Then I jumped twirling around to face them as I threw a two finger salute.

~O~O~

It actually took me a bit of time to make it back up from the room on the lower floor where I changed my gear back to what I had on before as I started my climb back up the shaft that I had fallen down again. I reveled in the challenge of looking for places to put my hands and feet as I worked my way up. I was eventually meet up with Tama who was being lowered down on a rope in an attempt to find me. When she finally reached me she climbed onto my back not realizing that should have made it harder for me. Before looping the rope underneath my arms in an attempt to try and help me up.

It was nice of them but I think I still ended up doing most of the work even though Tama was nice enough to point out hand holds for me.

When I reached the top I was instantly and aggressively hugged. Thankfully I was able to get my feet under me enough to not fall into the hole a third time and have to drag four girls up instead of just Tama. The smile as Liza slowly coiled the rope before handing it back to a swordsman showed that it was a near thing though.

When we reached the surface we had to go through a checkpoint to make sure we weren't demons, monsters, or such. They ended up using the towns Yamamoto stone for that. Unsurprisingly to me at least no one was.

The look on people's faces when the saw Liza's new stats was priceless. The same could be said of when they looked at Pochi's. Tama's was less so simply because the shock had worn off, which depressed the cat girl slightly.

I will need to find a way to make it up to her.

I probably should have made my level higher than 10 considering theirs was 13 but, hindsight is 20/20.

Tana was still hanging around her farther but seemed to be trying to pay attention to where I was. I made sure to let her know that I wasn't just going to disappear.

Soon after we were moved to a dungeon so the Baron could better secure the perimeter and come up with a decent cover up. The Beltons and Zena were just put on house arrest but considering the fact that I was a commoner I thought I got off pretty lucky.

I was then informed I was luckier than I thought when I was told I was going to be moved to a house due to my efforts in protecting the Beltons. A brief exchange with guard that was moving me got me the bribery skill along with what was left ok my party to come with me. On my way out I left enough with the warden to make sure those that remained got decent bedding and food for their stay.

The place we ended up staying was nice defiantly bigger then my old apartment and probably closer to the size of the Inn I was currently staying at. Not the room the Inn. We were left with a maid, who I asked if she could set up a bath for us.

After a two hour wait which included waiting for the tub to be carried up along with the water and chasing down Tama so we could scrub her down. I was finally able to relax in the calming water.

Then Pochi climbed in.

Followed by Tama.

Finally leaving Liza slowly climbing in as she let the water overcome her.

She had mainly kept her modesty while scrubbing herself down by me not looking at her. That was now not an option considering that this tub was barely big enough for me to lie down in and wide enough for a particularly large man. Meaning with Pochi and Tama pinning me in one spot as they played I was left with only one option. Nap time.

Diner was fairly low key. I had made arrangements so that we could all eat together which the maid had thought odd but was willing to go along with it.

When we finally made it to bed I was really too tired to care and lacking pajamas I just went to sleep in a fresh pair of boxers. Upon waking up I realized that everyone else decided to sleep in my bed to with Liza wrapping herself around me like some sort of parasite, Tama had curled up into a ball on top of us and was softly purring under the blanket, and Pochi was sprawled out under the blanket as well only using my chest as a pillow as my free arm instinctively rubbed the top of her head.

They had all removed their clothes so as not to get the sheets dirty.

I made sure to get them pajamas in the morning

The following couple of days went on in a similar fashion with attempts of trying to teach the younger girls how to read, training in general, and reading books on magic in general. There were sporadic visits from a city official which allowed me the opportunity to get Liza's spear back after it was confiscated from being made of monster parts as well as return the stuff I had collected from deceased persons that we had come across.

Ohna, Zena, and Tana also made sporadic visits but they were mainly tied up with helping stop the spread of the dungeon from effecting the rest of the town.

It was on the eighth day that we were finally released.

Viscount Jin Belton meet with me as we collected the few things I had ordered for entertainment while we stayed.

"Would you be willing to marry Tana?"

What? "An interesting idea but I believe I am already seeing Zena. Who I will probably also have to leave when I move onto my next town. I am a traveling merchant after all."

"You believe you are seeing a girl? You either are or you are not my dear boy."

"It's complicated she was showing me around town when the labyrinth thing started and she apparently almost jumped down that shaft after me if what I was told was true. I think it would be rude to go and promise to marry another girl before I settles things with her."

"Very true and if you are talking about Zena Marientail she would be a good first wife."

"First wife?"

"Yes I myself have three."

"How is that working out for you?"

"More difficult than you would imagine. It is hard to express the fact to them that I love them more than anything else in the world. Making time for each of them is also difficult with my responsibilities."

"I could imagine. How do they deal with each other?"

"It depends on the day. At first they were all rightfully mad at me for marrying all of them. They were all arranged marriages you see but two of them were for my brothers who died in a freak accident and we couldn't pull out of them."

"So you had to marry all of them. That had to be difficult in the beginning."

"It was I consulted with my priest on how to try and solve the issue and he explained to me the great King Yamamoto's views on love."

"I have heard of the king but, I don't think I have ever heard about his love life."

"Sadly it is believed that he died alone. However he taught that while it is good for a man to love only one women if for some reason he should have others come unto him he should love them equally."

"A wise man. Did you tell your wives that?"

"Heavens no boy, does it look like I have a death wish? I was told by the priest to say 'It wasn't me.' No I did follow his advice and did my best to love them all equally, it took some time but eventually it worked out. I do believe they did end up talking to the priest at a different times though."

"Any clue what he told them?

"No, but I think it is something that while they may have heard it they would have had to find out for themselves what it was."

"I will have to keep that in mind."

"So can I take that as a yes for marrying her then?"

"I really think I should get to know her better before I do anything."

"She has a nice buttock and is very popular."

"Why are you pushing so hard for this?"

"She is my second child from my third wife and while not particularly close to being the inheritor of my title she can still achieve it. Her brothers will most likely start striving in earnest for it next year and I would rather she not be here for that."

"Do you not want her to have the title?"

"No, I think she would carry it well. I don't want her to be hurt in their squabbles trying to use and leverage her. I do care for her, but it would be best if she were not here for that."

"I will have to think about it then."

"Very well then if you chose to not take her as a wife I would at least have to make you take her as an apprentice. You will have to take responsibility after all."

"You do realize I am just starting out and I don't even have a horse. Also what do you mean be responsibility?"

"Yes I do. As for responsibility I don't seem to remember my dear sweet little girl wearing so many belts and carrying that many knives when I left her."

I could feel the glare on my back as I finished strapping the belts on the bag I had 'everything' in.

"Any way here is your reward for protecting me and your compensation for the monster cores you collected. That should be more than enough to get yourself a horse dear boy."

Grabbing both bags I checked their contents with my menu the bag with the reward for protecting the Beltons was filled with jewels whereas the one for the monster cores which I didn't keep in my storage was filled with a lot of coins. How much did those things go for again? I might need to change my profession.

"Thank you Viscount Belton. I will have your answer for you within a week or two."

"Staying for so long?"

"I have found myself the need to recover from my adventure and it is best not to make quick decisions when it comes to life or love, Viscount."

"You are wise beyond your years Kirito. Please just call me Jin."

~O~O~

On our way back to the inn we came across Nidoren who told me he could quickly finish the contracts between the animal girls and myself. In my talks with him he had expressed an interest in buying them. Repeatedly.

I however expressed in an interest in releasing them, which shocked him for a bit.

Turning to me with sad eyes he spoke. "I know why you want to do it my dear boy but you need to realize something. Where you are and how you are treating them is the best that could ever happen to them here. If you were to release them they would most likely be killed for no other reason than someone could. While other places are by far much better to people of animal heritage there is only one city where they are treated equally.

"As a traveler you can't by your very nature stay in one spot for long and from what I know of your girls they will not leave you. At least give them a choice in the matter."

"If given the chance, I will always be by your side Master." Wait are you proposing to me Liza?

""Don't leave us sir!"" The hug that Pochi and Tama launched at me caused me to stumble slightly as I entered a large tent that acted as his office and a private 'show room.'

"Now that that is settled, could I interest you in looking at some of my stock before we start on your contracts? I am willing to knock of thirty percent for what you have done for me."

"I am not looking for more slaves."

"For an old man's sake then."

Giving the slave trader a sigh and a nod he quickly left the large tent to grab the first of his wares.

So it began as he led in groups of ten. All of them were girls all of them were in dresses that should have been turned to rags but were being kept well cleaned. I got to hear repeatedly how they were all virgins, a couple had accounting, arithmetic, or sectorial skills probably useful but I could probably get it easily.

It went on like that for three rounds before he brought in the last group only having six in it in total.

When he had made it back in he walked up to first girl.

She had black hair, a heart shaped face, and a body that would have made her a rival for Asuna.

"I know that she's plain and not really easy on eyes, but she is as sturdy as a mule and can work like one to." So apparently different views on beauty probably would have swept any high school I would have attended considering she was 14, looks like she also has the etiquette skill.

The next one he walked up to was blond with freckles and 15. "She's a good girl who loved her mama, loves Parion, and Seryuu to." She also had the negotiate skill.

"I know she has purple hair but she really isn't that bad. She is very loyal and from the way shes looking at you she would love to have you as a master." No skills and eleven. Also **Mad Princess** title, do I really want to follow that plot thread though. Wait this isn't a game.

"I know she is a little past her prime but she is very skilled, and somehow still a virgin." She had brown hair and was twenty. How the hell is that past her prime? Also how did she get **Sex Technique** and still be a virgin?

"She's young, and she's willing to learn." She was dirty blond, nine, and a sandwich shy of starving.

He had finally reached the last girl. With red hair that was down in braids if you would have thrown glasses on her she wouldn't look out of place in a library. Also 15 with the **Collecting** skill. "She's a good girl who loved her mama, loves Parion, and Seryuu to." You already used that one.

"They have all really looked nice, bu…"

"I am willing to sell you all of them for 6 gold."

"Like I was saying, they have all looke…:

"Any that aren't sold tomorrow are going to the mines."

As I tried to give him a dead pan stare a sound to the side caught my attention causing me to look back over at the slaves who were now trying to put on a show to amp up there sex appeal. Thankfully the black haired girl and the Mad Princess refrained, sadly the twenty year old was helping the nine year old pose.

Turning back to Nidoren a groan on my lips and my hand rubbing my forhead. "Why are so admit on selling them all."

"I was planning on retiring soon and with this batch of slaves and the hush money I should be able to do fairly well for myself."

"Fine. Six gold it is talk to me after the auction tomorrow and I will take care of the rest of your 'stock'."

"Pleasure doing business with you lets finish of these contracts then."

This was going to be a long night.

I was then tackled to the ground by the nine year old as she planted kisses on my face and I corrected myself.

This was going to be a really long night, but it was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5: Ten People Walk Into a Bar

Now for the only Death March story that actually still updates.

The problems that I had writing this chapter actually came from the fact that as a person I am terrible with interacting with people. Making character development something of a weird thing for me.

Also my internet got cut and for reasons that are not money related (I am lazy). I am not getting it fixed. The only real problem this causes is I can no longer watch the anime for reference and I don't have access to the web novel because I can't remember where it is and it would eat up the data on my phone, same with the manga but I have never actually used that. Also I guess the wiki would be out for the same reason. That leaves me to using the copies of the light novels floating around.

~-Spoilers-~

While probably not particularly important as far as the story goes and I will need to come back to it latter in a different method we finally have our first major divergence in the story!

Also while I know I got their names, body types, and I don't think their personalities were ever brought up in the web novel I got the important part right so I shall stick to my claim that there are no OC's in this fic. Characters acting OOC is debatable.

~-Comments/Reviews-~

ptl – While there are many failings for first person stories and I will not argue that one of the biggest advantages is being able to do stream of thought stuff extremely easily. Granted this can backfire spectacularly. While I probably it off as well as I need to in order to make it work at its best I do try and make sure it's at least readable. Hopefully.

Supersonicfan1107 – Your name confuses me are you a fan of going supersonic or are you a super Sonic the Hedgehog fan? On your review if Asuna makes an appearance in the future she will find that her one and only spot with Kirito is now gone. To be fair though she would have had to learn to accept Kirito's choice of profession back in chapter one if she had really wanted that spot. On the other statement yes the haram will probably end up being spectacularly large. I will do my best to make sure all of the girls keep making appearances and stay relevant to the story. To be fair some will appear a lot less due to some circumstances but any time I can get them to show up I will.

Flo463 – As stated in the above. I will try to make it so you don't need an excel spreadsheet to keep track of everyone. I mean have you read Eroninja? It is almost literally almost impossible to keep track of all of them. I will do my best. On the question of lemons. I am really going to have to think about it off hand I am going to say no because in 99.99% of stories it really doesn't add to the story and I haven't come across the .01%. That doesn't mean suggestive scenes won't appear or that Kirito won't sheathe his sword of screen but, I need a reason for it to drive the story to make it worth it my while to go into anything outside of the normal shenanigans.

S10MC2015 – I don't see why not? As far as the anime or as far as the light novels are official translated into English you really can't claim anything more than a really strong crush between Satou and Zena but there is no reason it can't become more than that. Except for the fact that Satou keeps trying to convince himself he isn't a loli-con (he denies it so much that I doubt it) and considers any girl under the age of 25 (He is canonly around 29 at the start of the series) a loli. So yea I don't see why not.

Kyo – You're welcome. And they are becoming more and more apparent.

~X~X~X~

I do not own Sword Art Online or Death March but I do own a pencil but I honestly can't tell you were it is because I usually use pens…

~X~X~X~

Appearing occasionally in games that cater to a more 'mature' audience, "night services" have always been an interesting thing. Ranging from recovering your health and stamina (somehow), minor stat changes in categories such as righteousness, confidence, and luck, or just a good way for you to throw your in game currency away.

Maybe it's the attempt to make their game seem more realistic or mature. Maybe it's to allow players the knowledge that at least their virtual selves can get 'laid.'

To me it has always seemed to be tacked on as some sort of joke.

I am sure it's different for adult video games, but how would that even work? Press X for sex?

-Kirigaya Kazuto

~O~O~

The crowds had mellowed out as the general population shifted from people trying to get the greatest deals, to heading home from work, then to going to a fine eatery/avoiding the wife. I still made quite a sight being followed by nine girls of varying ages. The fact the Liza was able to casually carry her spear and the two other animal girls only making it more so.

Checking the time on my 'menu' (I really need to figure out how this world works, because it is defiantly not a game) and noticing that it was 8:62. I stared at the clock for a good minute watching it roll over to make sure. That's a thing…

With that a burning desire called out from within me, "What does everyone want to eat?"

Two zombie like voices called out "meeeeat" before falling back down as they continued to play dead in Liza's arms.

"While anything would do Master, I would not be opposed to grilled chicken."

The purple haired girl pretty much answered for the rest of them with a curious tone. "We are slaves. We should be lucky to even get food."

A look back over my shoulder at my companions showed a bunch of looks varying from confused to curious except for Liza who was walking with a serine smile even though she had the two girls still under her arms.

While staying in the Viscounts mansion I had eventually learned that owners didn't have to bother feeding their slaves with some of them just having them eat whatever they could find including grass and acorns. As you can imagine this didn't go over well. Liza did assure me that human slaves were often treated better. Which honestly didn't help. "I don't particularly care for eating alone. Besides people are more effective when they have enough to eat."

Looking around the area showed me that while slaves were able to eat at most of the stalls they typically had to sit on the floor while everyone else sat at tables. A brief discussions with one of the owners of a stall that caught my eye reviled that the guy was one of the men stuck in the dungeon. He then went on to offer us a free meal in gratitude of providing better accommodations in the prison.

I then pointed to my entire group. Looking over at his wife he turned back and, with a careful nod, gave his consent. At my request we moved some partitions around a large table near the back of the area allowing us all to eat together.

What followed next was a refreshing meal of a hearty soup with some sort of intestine as a base it was a bit salty for my taste but the heavily watered down mead washed it down smoothly. A small plate of fried and breaded pork with different sauces for dipping including one with enough heat to make me cautious, if only mildly, was latter brought out.

While enjoying the pork I decided to broach the next topic. "We should probably introduce our selves, I will start. My name is Kirito and I am a merchant, my goal in life is to travel the world and find the meaning of me being here."

Most of the girls nodded thinking of what they were going to say except for the purple haired, Arisa if her icon was correct, she just stared at me a look of understanding crossing her face.

It took a bit for the next person to go, the red head finally making the next move, her voice low as she stared at her particularly deep plate. "My name is Cathy, I am Master Kirito's slave and I wa...want to be able use magic."

"Good goal Cathy I will see how I can help you with that. Who's next?"

Standing up on her chair the nine year old went for the next round. "I don't have a name, my goal in life is to be the best slave Master has so he rewards me with feel goods!"

A confused look crossed Tama's face, "Master, what are feel goods?"

Thankfully Pochi answered in a low voice, "She means head pats."

The understanding of a thousand sages entered Tama's face as she shook her head in understanding. Making to stand on her own chair, she then introduced herself. "My name is Tama, I like fighting monsters with Master's sword, meat, and head pats."

Pochi slowly stood on her own chair barely being heard over the din of the 'restaurant.' "My name is Pochi I like playing with Tama and Master's sword, meat, and head pats."

Oddly enough the din died down briefly. A glance at the rest of the table showed Arisa giving me a flat look with half of the rest giving looks of serenity (Liza, the twenty year old and the nine year old though she was probably imitating the older women) the rest had glowing faces.

A quick cough had the blonde standing, "My name is Denice, and I was sold by my father after mother died. I like card games and I want to make men happy like my mother did."

Wait what?

"My name is Lulu I may not be pretty and suitable for night time activities, but I am as sturdy as a heifer and not afraid to do anything Master needs."

A quick look at Tama had me cutting off her question, "She means sleeping. You with purple hair go."

The purple haired girl quickly stood on her chair, "My name is Arisa. I look forward to vigorously taking care of all of Masters needs at any time." Her curtsey at the end might have been cute if not for the fact that her 'dress' barely touched her thighs to begin with.

"My name is Liza. I love serving Master and the spear that he gave me." Thankfully Liza kept it short this time, last time I had asked her she gave her whole biography. Although it did explain why she hated weasels so much.

"It looks like it's my turn." The twenty year old stood up slowly drawing it out, and our attention to her body. It was skinny. "My name is Mariel. I was Nidoren's companion, and he made sure I could satisfy any future Master. I look forward to having sex with Master."

Did she really just say that? I guess she was one of the two girls to say anything different in the slave contract the other being Arisa stating that they would serve me with all their might night and day.

"Master what's sex?" Please don't ask me that with that face Tama.

Before I could answer the nine year old had already started talking. "It's when a boy takes his man stick and puts it in a girl's women hole. It's supposed to hurt at first and then feel really good then when you feel the best you become a women." That is the must blunt childish answer I have ever heard. The way she nodded her head with such confidence only made it more bizarre.

"Master can I have sex?"

"You're not old enough."

"When will I be old enough?"

The aptly named Ruin Princess Arisa answered her before I could. "When spankings feel good."

The look of horror that crossed the three younger girl's faces was priceless, but I needed to cut my losses. "I need to go grab a couple things real quick."

"I can do it Master"

"What do you require Master?"

"You don't have to leave Master I can get it."

Lulu, Liza, and Cathy tried to cut off my path but, I had a secret weapon up my sleeve. "You can all stay and keep eating. I can order you more."

Nodding their consent Lulu and Liza thankfully stayed, from what I could tell Lulu had the best control of Arisa and Liza could keep Tama and Pochi inline easy enough.

"At least let me accompany you to help you carry your things Master." Cathy, however, was not deterred.

A brief glance made me feel like a jerk as she flinched back, before I nodded my consent to her.

The looks of approval and thumbs up the customers were giving me as we made our way to the owner's wife were off putting. Something was defiantly up with this world. Finally making it over to her I handed her two gold coins and asked if she could take some more food to our 'booth.'

She ended up handing one back before leaving me. While I had figured I was over paying her I was also trying to make up for the disturbance we were causing. One gold coin was still probably over paying though.

As Cathy and I made are way through the few nonfood related stalls that were still open, we happened across a cobbler grabbing Cathy a pair of shoes before they closed was an interesting affair as I helped put them on her feet as she sat down. The look of happy embarrassment on her face as I did so was worth the cost. I checked with the owner to see if we would be able to pick up shoes for the rest of the girls tomorrow. Even if the animal girls had shoes already they most defiantly didn't fit correctly and that was something that I was wanting to fix.

Continuing on our way I remembered Cathy's introduction. "So is there any particular type of magic you were wanting to learn Cathy?"

"What, Master?"

"You said you wanted to be a mage didn't you."

"I guess I did but it is really more of a pipe dream then anything."

She had fallen a half step behind me somehow. A quick side step had me walking backwards so I could talk to her more easily. Her head was down paying more attention to our feet then where she was actually going. "I wouldn't say that. Why do you think you can't be a mage?"

"I would need books to study, and time to study them. Neither of which I have because I am a slave Master."

"So you can read?"

"Yes."

"Were you studying magic before you became a slave?"

"Yes."

"What kind of magic were you studying?"

"Water magic."

"That sounds interesting. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to give me more than one word answers?"

"Yes, Master."

"That's better I guess… Cathy, I must confess that I have recently taken an interest in learning magic. Would you be willing to help me?"

Her head slowly tipped up. "You want to me to teach you magic? I don't even know any spells I was still trying to get the chants down when my mother and I got sold to pay off fathers debts."

"I honestly just started learning so you are still way ahead of me."

"Still you should get someone who can actually do it to teach you."

A teasing grin crept upon my face, "Are you second guessing your Master Cathy? I think I am going to have to punish you." The look on her face as she quickly looked into my eyes with disbelief before remembering her 'place' and looking away. "You will read this book for one hour before you get to eat breakfast. Am I clear?" Reaching into my satchel I thumbed through my inventory quickly to grab one of the books I had gotten out of the destroyed house in the dungeon.

Forcing the book into her hands as she quickly took it so as not to damage it. Slowly looking at it a smile returned to her face as she recognized the starting tome for water magic. Clutching it to her chest she looked back at me seeing only a gentle smile and a nod as I had fallen to walking beside her again. She flinched slightly as I pulled her into a side hug.

"Cathy if you ever need something or want to do something just tell me ok. Even if you just want me to free you from slavery I will do it."

"You would really do that?"

"Yes, owning you means I am responsible for all of you, including your happiness doesn't it?"

"You would free me if I asked you to?"

"Yes. Do you want me to free you?"

Clutching the book to her chest she looked back at her feet before shooting only a momentary glance back at my face. "I… I don't know. I... I can think about it right? Then ask you about it later?"

"Yes Cathy, you can even tell the other girls what I told you. Now to go find you all some cloaks."

~O~O~

The advantage of buying a simple cloak for someone over pretty much any other article of clothing was simplicity. Yes you can get extremely fancy cloaks, but often simple works just as well. For example early on in SAO Asuna used one to try to conceal her looks (which failed horribly), Argo used one to basically pass herself off as an npc half the time, and laughing coffin was basically trade marked by theirs about as much as their tattoo.

Aside from looks as far as sizing goes it is also pretty straight forward.

"Master I think this one is too small for me."

"Do you think it would fit Lulu?" So it's probably still a good thing I ended up bringing Cathy with me.

"Maybe Master. Do you want to get it for her?"

"Put it in the maybe pile."

It had taken us another ten minutes after our previous discussion to find a place that sold cloaks that wasn't closed. Considering it was getting pretty late and pretty much everything aside from restaurants were closed or in the process of closing it wasn't too surprising.

Thankfully the food stall that was next to the clothing store sold chicken. They only sold it by the bucket (you could bring your own or buy one there) and it was deep fried with a light breading with twelve secret herbs and spices. When I asked if they also sold biscuits he had said no, but he would think about finding a way to do it promising me a free meal if he could figure it out.

It wasn't grilled chicken, but Liza would probably be happy to have some of Kenneth's fried chicken.

While waiting for a fresh batch Cathy and I had started picking out cloaks for everyone.

"Do you think this one would fit Arisa?"

"Master, I think I can handle this if you want to talk to Mister Kenneth more."

"Are you saying I am bad at picking out cloaks Cathy?"

"I would never say that Master."

Heading back to the front I was able to get our chicken right as it came out of the fryer. Thanking Kenneth I went and ended up sitting on a bench nearby waiting for Cathy to finish. She seemed to be able to move faster without me there.

Hearing a slight scuffle behind me I looked back into an alley. Bracing myself for an attack, I was caught off guard by the eyes of a good number of children staring longingly at the bucket resting next to me. While most of them were dog persons with a handful of cat persons they were all slaves. Unlike Pochi and Tama which just had the ears and tails of their extra species they looked more like someone had taken a cat or dog and given them human characteristics.

As I stood and grabbed my bucket, they flinched back in fear. While making my way over to the alley one of them stood in front as the rest nervously backed further in. In a voice that was slurred, most likely from the shape of his mouth, and scared he spoke, "What do you want Mister?"

"It appears like I accidently bought too much food, and I would hate for it to go to waste."

As the kids emptied the bucket I checked their stat screens. None of them had any real level, one or two of them had managed to get collecting as a skill, and none of them technically had a master. Where their title was where most slaves would read So and So's Slave theirs instead read stray slave. Looking a little deeper into the owner section would read none.

It was sad really.

While they were technically slaves, 'helping' their status as far as this city was concerned. They really didn't get the benefits an owner would give them such as shelter and likely at least some food to at least protect their investment. The most likely scenario I could come up for something like this happening would be the that the mothers were forced to get rid of their kids or their previous master died and the person that took over didn't want to keep the 'dead weight'.

A women who is late in her pregnancy is really limited to what jobs they can effectively do and it holds true for after they give birth to an extent. Taking care of a kid would only slow them down more. While it might be worth it to keep a slave on the back burner for six months or so if they had some skills, waiting five or so years in the hopes that a slave gets a skill is another thing entirely.

The fact that out of a fairly large group there was only one girl and she was hiding behind three of the 'bigger' boys pointed to a different kind of operation that I didn't even want to think about.

I wanted to do something, I needed to do something. There wasn't anything that I could do now however. While I definitely had the money to buy them and some place for them to stay. It wouldn't fix the problem.

If I took them all with me people would no doubt think I was creating some sort of army. It would be ridicules with the nine other people I had with me right now.

They needed a way to sustain themselves. Creating a business and leaving them in charge of it was the best option but I would need a front man. It would take a while to set up but if done right I should be able to get some money out of it as well.

While lost in my thoughts the kids had all disappeared. Going back to Kenneth's stand he looked at me in mild surprise as I ordered another bucket. Going back into the store I spotted Cathy sitting by the window (more of just an opening with heavy shutters if I was being honest) with the cloaks sitting next to her.

"You are too nice Master."

Looking out I could see clearly into the ally I was just in. I could feel a smile touch my lips, "Most just call me an idiot Cathy. Come on the others are probably getting worried, or in trouble and I would rather not deal with either."

~O~O~

Luckily the restaurant we were at hadn't burnt down by the time Cathy and I got back. All of the girls were happy to receive their cloaks but I think Liza would have been just as happy with only the chicken.

Due to the size of our group and the crowds that were still filtering through the area it took us awhile to make it over to the Gatefront Inn, thankfully the yellow sign in the front was just as visible as I remembered and we were able to get in easy enough. Now the hard part, convincing the land lady to allow ten people into one room.

As was typical when a large group of people entered any establishment everyone's eyes quickly made their way over to us. The odd thing was that they weren't focused on me who was the clear leader of the group, they were all paying attention to the animal girls.

"It's good to see that you are doing well Kirito." Martha seemed to be the least affected, as she quickly moved forward and gave me a quick hug.

"Thanks Martha." Looking up, "Mrs. Landlady would it be possible for me to rent some extra rooms it seems like my party has gotten bigger."

"I am sorry but we have a strict policy about letting animal people in our inn."

While surprising, it ultimately wasn't that surprising. During my stay in the Viscount's mansion I had gotten my hands on a fairly good history book. While not extremely recently there was a civil war in what was called the Muno Barony. If the records could be believed the Baron's brother kidnapped an up and coming sorcerers wife and forced her into some sort marriage/slavery contract.

In order to keep that on the down low the brother also had the entirety of the sorcerers family executed on some sort of trumpeted up charges for tax evasion. The sorcerer at this point returned from a trip picking up supplies and finds all of his family dead with his wife being raped. Understandable he declares vengeance on the Baron's Brother. After summoning numerous undead legions the sorcerer quickly takes over the city. A note was made in the account stating that only those who directly resisted the undead were actually attacked, making most of the casualties' soldiers who were protecting the Baron's Brother.

While the city fell the Baron's brother escaped taking the sorcerer's wife him, in the process sacrificing a large number of animal people who had stepped up to help him due to him offering the blessings of the Baron.

While the entire Barany eventual fell due to the sorcerer's vengeance and a 'curse' placed on the land the important part to note was that animal demi-humans had received the blessing of the Baron even if it was in a roundabout method. Due to this, large groups had started to move to the Muno Barony creating several small towns.

However due to the curse that was placed on the Barony, crops seemed to have failed fairly often causing the larger portion of these newly established settlements to also fail. The Lords that controlled the nearby areas, refused to let these displaced demi-humans to merge with their cities or to create towns in their lands due to fear that was part of the reason the Muno Barony was failing. This lead to the displaced groups to need to raid different towns on their way past them due to not having enough funds or resources to support themselves.

The Lords retaliated by issuing an attack on sight order. Leading to large numbers of people dying or being turned into slaves for the safety of the people.

The few groups of animal people that were able to get out, established towns that were fairly well hidden and at this point isolationist due to fear of someone coming to attack them. The best example of this I could find was the Ratman Emirate.

Dogmen and catmen probably got the worst deal out of this, due to being targeted for being a better slave stock because of their larger size compared to the rest of the animal type Demi-Humans. While most of the slaves in Seryuu were of the above verities there were a handful of lizard people, ratmen, and weasel folk.

In the end what the above means is that while the people of Seryuu had a valid reason to hate animal people it was long enough ago it should have disappeared.

Feeling my heart sink, I still needed a place for everyone to stay. "Would it be possible for my human companions to stay in my room while I go find some place for my other companions to stay?"

The Landlady was about to respond when Arisa made her move. "While I don't know the full story, I know my master's slaves have helped protect my master and other good citizens of this town. Could they perhaps stay in a shed or the stable?"

 **Skill Acquired: Psychic Magic**

 **Skill Acquired: Psychic Magic Resistance**

Let's put some points into those real quick. I am going to need to ask her what skills she has because unknown clearly doesn't mean none.

The landlady seemed to struggle with the question for a little bit, but eventually gave her consent as the rest of the room slowly mollified themselves with alcohol.

While Martha showed all off the girls the room and helped them grab another bed so we had more places to sleep I made my way out with Liza, Tama, and Pochi to help them get settled in. Having asked Martha's mom how much straw we could use she seemed to think fairly hard about it for a bit until I handed her a silver, then she told us to use as much as we wanted. With that in mind I grabbed a pair of large blankets from my storage while the girls weren't looking and stuffed a large amount of straw into them before sewing the edges closed making something of a mattress.

This got me the **Sewing** skill which I promptly maxed out.

The younger two seemed to really enjoy it saying it was almost as soft as the one in the mansion. Liza thanked me for the kindness of making the mattress and for making sure to leave the spear her to protect it.

It was technically illegal to arm slaves inside of town, however there was a loophole which basically let them either just carry them for their master, or guard them for their master. Which worked just fine until they actually had to use them, but who wants to attack some one that's armed?

I had to stress that their lives were more important than the blankets and food I had left them. Hopefully it didn't become an issue.

When I eventually made it back up to my room it was to watch the girls try and fit a bed though the door. After helping them get it in and placed, I bade Martha night and took a look around the room. While large for one person it was extremely small for seven.

The size at this point wasn't necessarily a deal breaker, but I really needed to get some place where we could all stay comfortably. In this kind of time period that basically came down to either renting a whole inn or a house. Any house that size that was being rented out had to be dilapidated and probably just as effective to buy.

Walking over to the dresser by the window I moved to take off my cloak, "Well I know what I am going to need to do tomorrow now." Feeling a hand touch mine I saw Lulu trying to grab my cloak for me. "Don't worry I can take care of myself why don't you all get yourselves ready."

Reaching into one of drawers and pulling out a bunch of shirts and throwing them on the bed. In all honesty probably wouldn't take them long considering they only had the one set of clothing. That would be something else I would need to remedy in the morning. Opting to sleep in the dark blue loose shirt I was in along with my pants to make the girls less nervous about sleeping in the same room as me.

Going into my top drawer and pulling out a couple tooth cleaning sticks. "Can I turn around now?"

Mariel quickly answered, "Yes master."

"Cool does anyone want to clean their teeth… why are you all naked?" Also why was the nine year old staring intently at my pants? Note to self: find name for her in the morning.

Denice looked at me like I was an idiot before answering, "So we can have sex with you, that's part of the reason you buy girls as slaves."

It was times like these that I was glad that there was a window right next to my dresser.

~O~O~

The cool night air felt good against my arms as I made my way down the street. The moon giving off more than enough light for me to use especially now that I had my newly acquired **Night Vision** skill.

While my escape had happened without issue. This just left me with my current problem: what was I supposed to do now?

I needed to find a place to sleep and my room wasn't an option at the moment and I didn't want to disturb Liza and them. Most all of the legitimate inns had already closed and I just didn't feel like trying to find a park bench and going to sleep on that.

Luckily for the short period of time I was running on the roofs I had spotted a portion of town that was still fairly lite up, that was where I was headed now. The area itself was most likely filled with night based industries, I still held out some sort of hope that they had something of the sort to house drunks. Though that would probably stink something fierce.

As I got closer the number of bars and ladies of the night increased. It was at this point that I had learned one of the obscure and weird thing about the statuses that appeared next to people. Aside from giving me Name, Age, and Title, it also gave me any basic health issues. For example if they had venereal diseases and if it was active or not.

I honestly didn't know if I should blame some God or programmer, but seriously why?

As I started looking around the different establishments, each promising to offer a night I would never forget (except for one dive bar that just advertised the exact opposite), and seeing many girls that I would consider underage and a couple that were not adults by the standards here. I had to ask myself what I was going to do.

Here I was in a now a 26 year old man who has only ever had one girl friend, even though the majority of my friends throughout the years have been girls, in a 15 year olds body. I had grown up and like everyone my tastes had changed, I could still appreciate the looks of younger girls but, it was more of an abstract thing and I preferred girls around my own age. This wouldn't have really ever been a problem except now I wasn't my own age.

I was about half of it. Meaning I could either chase after girls that looked twice my age or I could chase after girls that were almost half my age. Each option had just as many problems with it as benefits. Alternatively I could just become celibate but, to be honest I never really considered that to be an option.

"Sir, are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry, there was just some stuff on my mind."

The lady at the desk quirked an eyebrow at me, "First time?"

I quickly replied absent mindedly, "Yea."

"Is there anything specifically you're looking for, or do you want to look over our selection?"

"Do you have anything with a good bed?"

A slow drawl entered her voice, "Ok, we have one with a twin sized bed."

"That will be fine."

"Your cost will be eight coppers for the night and your room will be upstairs third door on the right."

A bit expensive considering the Gatefront Inn was a copper a night with one meal included, but considering what this place was it might have been reasonable. Reaching into my pocket and summoning two silvers I handed them to her and grabbing the two coppers that she gave me back. "Thanks."

I turned back to my thoughts as I made my way to the room, absent mindedly stripping down to my boxers before lifting up the blanket for the bed and climbing in. While the women at the front desk had called it a twin it was closer to being a particularly large full sized bed or a small queen. Sitting up against the headboard I had resolved to continue thinking about what direction to take my love life in the morning, when the door opened.

"It's not often we come into a room to find a man already to go to bed."

Realization of what he lady down stairs meant finally hit me. "That's what she meant by twin size."

Like a mirror the two women walked in while one had her brown hair pulled over her left shoulder the other had it on her right. The silks they wore bordered on transparent using extra folds in the cloth to conceal what little couldn't be seen enticing you to try and see past the shadows of their curves. While anyone would call them beautiful it was almost like a middle school boy had listed off the figures for what a women should have.

"What are we going to do poor sister, it's so boring when there isn't a man to play with."

The one on the right reached out cupping her sister's chin, "I think we can come up with a few things to do dear sister." Then they kissed.

I will be honest my mind did a hard reboot right then. Trying to come to grips with what I was seeing I reached out for the last coherent thought that I had. "Actually now that I think about it I have a question."

Their hands started to move across each other's bodies as one spoke in a low voice, "And what would that be?"

"How do you find someone to love when, everything you have been taught goes against what you feel you need to do now?"

They stopped in their ministrations, a heavy calm seeming to fill the room. "You sure know how to kill the mood, don't you?"

"I have been told that once or twice."

Breaking apart one of them went to grab the chair from the desk while the other one made herself comfortable on the end of the bed before she spoke. "You know for a group of people that are payed to love, we fall in love just the same." Reaching up she pulled her hair over her back. "My sister and I… we were always cautioned about falling in love. As whores you could call us experts on the physical aspects, but the emotional aspects not so much. Most men are just proud of being with twins, some however keep coming back. It makes you think, think that…"

A loud sigh drew me back to the sister on the chair. "It makes you think that they might actually care. That maybe it's not about what you do to them." The anger seeping into her voice apparent as she continued. "Trying to play the good guy role while cheating on their loved ones. They only cared about themselves and when a new girl starts they are off, having once again having found true love." A slight grimace was on her face as she sat there staring at the wall on my other side.

The girl on the end of the bed spoke again barely breaking a thoughtful whisper. "I think that, if I were to find someone who could take me as I am. I could live with that."

Is that the reason I left Asuna? The fact she couldn't accept that I wanted to be a programmer? "I guess that makes sense."

"I agree with my sister that he needs to accept me, but he can't run away. I am used to guys not being able to be with us going to others for a night for better or worse, but he has to come back to me, always look after me, and not just chase the next thing that comes by."

"That makes sense to. The problem I am having though is that who I think I should look to date and I what feel who I should look to date are different."

"Doesn't matter. I have seen just as much caring from men that could have been our father and boys who don't even know how to handle a girl and just as much cruelty from both. It doesn't matter. If you don't know what to look for let love come to you and don't complain when it isn't what you expected. Why did you want to know anyway? Trying to get us to fall for you so we would give you our special service."

Wait what? "That's a thing?"

"No."

"Anyway. I was honestly just looking for a place to sleep and everywhere else was closed."

"They don't open the gates this late and you don't reek of alcohol." Standing up the one on the chair started fiddling with her top.

"I had to leave my other hotel room."

The one on the bed looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Why?"

"There were circumstances that made it clear I would be able to sleep better somewhere else."

"Why?"

"There was a slight misunderstanding of what was going on at the time."

"Why?"

"They didn't quite understand the reason I… ahh… employed them."

"Ohh?"

"So I left."

"Hmm. You left a bunch of people in your previous room after paying them for a service? Were they girls?" Why did it seem like she was crawling towards me now?

"Ahh yes…"

I could hear a low purr as her hands slowly passed my feet on her way towards me. "Are you afraid of sex? I can tell you there is no reason for you to fear it. It is quite… enjoyable."

"I am not going to have sex with a nine year old!"

Cold air brushed past my lower legs as the blanket lifted up. Looking over to the side the one that was on the chair was now wearing significantly less clothing then me. "We are not nine, and why are you in your small clothes? Get those off now."

"I just want to go to sleep!"

Any further argument I had was promptly cut off as my mouth was pulled to the side and the 'mild mannered' sister used her 'debate' skills to make sure I made no further arguments.

~O~O~

It was a peaceful morning as I made my way back to the Gatefront Inn. After last night it was defiantly appreciated. Though it was interesting to see their peaceful faces as I kissed the sleeping women's foreheads on the way out leaving a tip on the night stand.

While I would never complain about getting skills I had to question the usefulness of **Sex Technique** , **Pillow Talk** , **Seduction** , and **Message** among others. That didn't stop me from maxing them out.

The titles gained were also equally odd but I wasn't going to think about them unless I had to. The one 'title' I was glad I had held onto was the fact, as far as this world was concerned at least, I was still a virgin. It had taken a lot of work and convincing but, I felt it was worth it.

The twins, Charl and Laura, most adamantly called BS on that and considering I was a guy, had no real way to prove it.

Talking to one of the everyday magic users on my way back had allowed me to 'refresh' myself and get all of the sweat off me. A similarly quick discussion with a shop owner had me walking away with a bag off apples.

The crisp air matched the texture and taste of the fruit as I continued on my way thinking through the two discussion I had had yesterday. Viscount Belton's talk on loving everyone that would come to me and the twin's discussion on, I guess it was accepting people for who they are? I honestly believed what they were saying. It was best to love those around you and accept them for who they are, that I was fine with that. The age thing was going to throw me for a while though. In time I could get used to it I guess. That wouldn't stop me from thinking that Zena was too young for me even though I think she is technically older than me.

If she really loved me, I could live with it. Though I think it's probably just a crush.

Walking into the stable I made my way towards Liza, Pochi, and Tama checking to make sure they were fine. Seeing how Liza was just waking up I told her to take care of the other to and handed them some apples. She looked at me a little funnily when I handed her the apples, but then again it wasn't meat.

Making my way back to my room I left the apples at the bar with Martha's mom so I could grab another when I came back down after checking on the rest of the girls. I was almost at the stairs when I heard it.

"How could you Kirito!"

How could I what? I wasn't even here last night.

Hearing another scream this one more of panic quickly coming down the stairs, I moved quickly to catch whoever it was. Seeing Zena falling with both of her hands in front of her trying to catch herself. Grabbing one I pulled her up using my other hand to reach around her to help stabilize her.

 **Skill Acquired: Dancing**

Ten skill points latter I took my first step, Zena followed my lead without even thinking. Taking the initiative I pressed my advantage. "It's good to see you Zena, is there a problem you seem upset."

In a halting and quite voice she spoke. "When… when Martha opened the door to your room there were a bunch naked girls asleep in the beds."

"They had a rough day and I thought they needed somewhere soft to sleep."

 **Skill Acquired: Fabrication**

Max points now.

"But why were they naked?"

The real question was why didn't they use the clothes I gave them. "They really didn't have anything but their dirty old dresses to wear to bed."

"Lilio said that if a guy buys female slaves, it's just to have sex with them."

I guess that would make sense in a world like this, still though. "I would never take advantage of someone like that. They need to find their own person that they can love."

Thankfully she seemed to be calming down as I slowly lead us around the room as we continued dancing, her body coming closer to mine as her head seemed to come to rest on my shoulder. "Why did the one girl have blood between her legs then?"

"It's probably her time of the month Zena, I could ask her if you want." They way her face lite up when I said that was kind of cute.

"So you didn't sleep with any of them."

"I didn't sleep with any of them, Zena. Are you feeling better now?" I barely felt a slight nod of affirmation against my shoulder. Well there is one way to get her feeling better quickly. "You look nice in that outfit, is it new?"

"This old thing new?" The quick denial let me now that she was thinking about something else now.

"It looks a little thin aren't you cold in that?"

"No not really I am used to it."

"Hmm. I think a shawl would work well with it?"

"You think so?"

"Yea, in fact I know just the place where we can test that."

"That would be nice."

"Let me just go and check on everyone upstairs real quick."

~O~O~

Thankfully everyone upstairs appeared to be fine even if they were in the process of getting dressed still. Being a man of foresight I just checked through the door and didn't open it. Letting them know I would be gone for a bit and that there were apples at the bar they could have and Liza had some more food if they wanted it.

On my way back down I talked to Martha a little bit, when she saw Zena sitting at one of the tables with a smile on her face she threw me a discrete thumbs up before quickly moving on to her own morning tasks.

Our trip to a nearby stand that dealt in both shawls and scarves was accomplished fairly quickly lasting only a bit under what I would consider an hour. I had first spotted the place when I had went out with Martha the first day I had gotten into town.

I should probably get something to thank her for the help she had been as well.

After that we found everyone with Liza's group finishing off the remainder of my apples. For the most part they looked fine except for Lulu who was clearly feeling under the weather.

Letting Lulu know that she could rest in my room for the day if she needed to. I then went about giving everyone their tasks for this morning, namely getting supplies for themselves. I am not a girl, never will be a girl, and contrary to popular belief have never been a girl therefor have no idea what a girl would need. While it was unlikely they would take all morning trying to find the stuff they needed it gave me some time to think about what we were going to do.

I also made sure to name the nine year old. Because calling her Carol was a lot easier then referring to her in my head as the nine year old or just saying 'hey you.'

I needed to find us a place where we could all live and I needed to find an industry that they could succeed and make a living in.

I myself was still planning on being a traveling merchant which also meant that I would need to find things to sell and that I would need to be leaving town. As it stood I had already been here for about ten days or the equivalent of a week. While most all of that I was being held by the baron I still figured most merchants would have been able to get all of their jobs done in a max of about three days probably closer to one.

The deal with Jin Belton being what it was I had to stay for a week or two. As it stood if I were to take Tana it would be as an apprentice. That deal however was probably the only reason my staying here would be accepted for as long as it will end up being.

In order to keep all of my 'slaves' with me I would need to find something that we could all work on while we were traveling. This necessitated that I have some sort of wagon, which as a merchant I would probably need anyway.

I also still wanted to help all the demi-humans I had found last night. The problem with that was I couldn't take them with me at least in that large of number or else I would probably get accused of starting an army or a rebellion. I would need to find someone that could manage them and act as a front person.

In the end I am just talking myself around in circles. I needed time to think.

Well first things first I need to find someplace to house a large number of people. Maybe I will be able to come up with solutions for my other problems while I am at it.


	6. Chapter 6: House Shopping

The only Death March Fic to have ever missed an update and then returned. At least once.

Well I am going to say sorry I am late… I swear I had school and that is why my posts will probably be delayed for the foreseeable future. This is just to fun to write though so expect periodic updates.

~ Spoilers ~

Well things are butterflying nicely. This chapter still follows reasonable close to what happened in the anime and books so don't expect too many surprises. Although there are some changes that are beginning to become more and more frequent.

Kirito while always an active player in trying to beat the game. (Escape SAO, Save Asuna, Stop Death Gun, (More Spoilers Get the Hell out of Underworld) and other things.) As far as any social aspect he is most defiantly a coaster. In all social aspects he is passive he would have never hooked up with Asuna if not her desire to hook up with him, And once he is there he almost literally lets her decide his social life. Quite literally if Asuna says something he does it.

So I am trying to let him be in that situation. He will be driven by the other characters until he has to make a move and eventually he will need to. Eventually he will need to start making his own social moves or he will start suffering very much unintended consequences.

Depressingly that is not today and actually won't happen until book 4/5 of the Death March timeline. Because as it stands he is just a guy that is there trying to figure out what's going on. When his decisions start meaning things to more than just his immediate party and friend group he is going to need to wake up and wake up fast.

~ Spoilers End ~

~ Reviews ~

RizomataNyan: Thank you for your support and the encouragement. The problem I was having was more of the fact that I lost the internet at my apartment at the time so I had problems going to sites in general. The books are far enough ahead and I know them well enough finding things isn't a particularly difficult problem However thank you for the suggestion.

Supersonicfan1107: That is awesome although sad that that series ended I should probably try reading it at some point. And yes it is all about that window scene.

Kyo: Thanks for your continued support. I have a method for solving the issue you brought up and it is totally going to work. Parts of your solution are in it though, but because of how this story progresses it is going to take a bit for it to happen.

Flo643: While you do bring up an amazing point that can pretty much be applied to any cross over haram and a significant number of crossovers in general. I usually argue about how they do it as opposed to if they do it.

On your two main points. As stated above Kirito is passive as hell when it comes to relationships. It took Asuna in her underwear threatening him with a knife to make a move. So while he has wizened up over the years it will still take a while for him to figure out if they are into him or just playing. Alternatively while no girl here is probably going to say they really want to be in a haram those native to this place will probably be more open to it and care less when they see someone trying to get her man instead just trying to make sure her rank doesn't fall. Still not going to be an easy sell and the most active competitors will be going at it quite fiercely.

I would argue most all of Saint's SAO works are actually really good and if you haven't read them to go and so. And that one updated recently

Guest: Ok… If you are still there explain why it is now boring? For my defense there aren't a lot of options for him to take. The only other real one for him would be an adventurer but that has the problem of what is he going to do with most of his slaves? He won't just get rid of them because they are inconvenient and most of them would risk dying if they went with him. If you want to keep this discussion private PM me.

Nicolas: For those of you who don't know Spanish he said "I loved the chapter thank you for writing it and I would recommend that Kirito buy the mansion that has an underground road." Or so google translate tells me. My response is. An extremely good strategy that I totally approve of we will need to see how that goes though. "  
Una estrategia extremadamente buena que apruebo totalmente, necesitaremos ver cómo funciona eso. O al menos google translate me dice."

~ Review Response End ~

~Obligatory Disclaimer ~

I do not own Sword Art Online or Death March to the Parallel Rhapsody. Consequently the new Death March book was released in September and the new Sword Art anime is coming out in October so buy the first then watch the other.

~X~X~X~

While in order for most games to keep their rating below X it is common to see characters in basic underwear when you remove all of their gear. Normally this is more of an afterthought without any real design going into it, unless it is tied into some sort of erotic genre.

In real life, I would say underwear is extremely important at least as far as comfort goes.

Some girls claim that 'sexy' underwear gives them more confidence. I can attest that my Boxers of Bull strength defiantly made me stronger, I wouldn't say confident though…

Kazuto Kirigaya

~O~O~

After introducing everyone to Zena, an affair in and of itself, I excused myself in order to take care of some things. You know like buying a house. Leaving my companions to go and buy the items that they thought were necessary. Lulu however was apparently feeling ill so I let her stay in the room in order to get better.

Zena as it turned out had the day off and just wanted to see how I was doing. Or so she claimed.

Asking her if she wanted to go house shopping with me only had her giving an enthusiastic yes.

I will admit that I may not have had the best track record of reading girls intentions at least outside of combat but, I would defiantly wager that she liked me more than just 'friends.' That is still a quick turnaround from accusing me of cheating on her this morning. Or she just wants to make sure I don't. She may be more clingy then Asuna.

Anyway, we eventually made our way over to a general store in order to see if they had any leads on where I could find a house for sale. The building looked much like the others I had seen near the Gatefront Inn with a wood front and a small sign out front. Inside was a bit of a different story. I had expected a couple rows of shelves with different commodities placed so the shop keep could keep an eye on everything. What I got was barely a few items in the store itself with a good portion of the area by the door taken up by a table with chairs around it.

Apparently due to all of the business of the bizarre and other stands in general most of the sales took place outside of centralized markets. The places that dealt with larger harder to move items or large scale bulk purchases however still had more permanent structures due to not actually having the items on hand, storing the necessary paperwork, and in some cases the bulk items they purchased. So while a person may go to the market every day or at least once or twice a week, an actual store was probably only done a handful of times in a normal person's life.

A look around the room didn't reveal anybody so I ended up yelling to see if there was any one in. As luck would have it there was, she came walking down the stairs making her deep green skirt dance around her legs while her hands adjusted her muddy red hair. She tied the ensemble together with an off white blouse. "Sorry for taking so long what do you need?"

"A couple things actually, I was looking for a house to stay in temporarily and maybe turn into a business and I need a wagon along with everything that goes with it for transporting goods."

"Those would seem a bit contradictory."

"I am a merchant and was planning on storing some of my excess at the house."

"That would makes more sense. Have you thought about just renting storage space in a warehouse?"

That was actually a good point, but I needed the house for a couple other things as well. "It did cross my mind, but I was wanting to try some stuff with it. Also it is always nice to have a place you can just call home."

I got a sympathetic nod as she went through her papers looking for ones that dealt with houses. "Well if you are going to do that I would assume you would be looking for a fairly large one. The paperwork for that is also more time consuming so we should probably start with that. What kind of price range are you looking for?"

"Some place cheap that I could fix up a bit."

The look she gave me would have looked better with glasses but, the papers she looked over made a good substitute. "Well there aren't many like that. I know of three that the owners are trying to rent out… but the price they are asking for compared to what you get really isn't worth it and they are getting pretty desperate. They could go for someone buying them."

"Could we take a look at them?"

"I will go hook up the cart." With that she left leaving me sitting on the couch with Zena smiling contentedly where she had clamped herself to my arm.

"Looking for houses with Kirito…" If one listened carefully you could pick up the happy mutterings of Zena. "I wonder if it will have a large master bedroom…"

She might be thinking more into this then I have. Or probably ever will.

Crap I am going to have to buy furniture.

Well at least I have enough people to give me advice so it looks nice. Or I could just go with functional… If I do that I might just end up getting more 'advice' though.

Eventually we were lead outside to a wagon being pulled by a pair of horses. After climbing up and helping Zena and the sales lady whose name I had yet to learn or just missed her mentioning. I don't think I remember giving her my name yet either actually.

Thus our journey around town began. The first place we stopped at was fairly large with two stories and all the trimmings to make it look expensive, such as ivy and fancy walls. It used to be owned by an up and coming noble who was assassinated in a power play leaving his family in a pickle as far as finances go. This explained why they were willing to rent it out at 2 silvers a week, making it the same cost as staying at the Gatefront Inn but I would have to pay for food. Honestly it was a steal of a deal and if I was up front and offered them anywhere near what I was thinking they would probably just say yes. At this point they probably just needed the financial wiggle room.

The problem with this place was that while the previous owner was killed recently it was still a couple months ago and because the assassin sucked at stealth he had ended up making an extremely large whole on the ground floor allowing animals, water, and randy teenagers (adults here) to get in and ruin the place.

I made sure to put it down as a possibility.

It was on our way to the next one that I noticed something.

Didn't I walk down this street already today?

"So I should warn you, while this place is fairly nice… It is in the red light district.

That would explain why it looked familiar. Enough time had passed that everyone had woken up and was moving around. Like I would have expected all of the men had run off to either go to work, hide their indiscretions, or beg forgiveness from their wife. This left an entire street full of women that weren't afraid to show off.

That wasn't to say they were wearing silks however. No they were wearing fairly plain dresses although more than a few had cuts in their skirts or drops in their blouses that most defiantly let them breathe and move around with few problems. A fact that a few took advantage of as they stretched while talking to their neighbors.

"Keep going." If Zena was going to have any say in it I defiantly was not going to be getting this house. While I may not have minded the environment even if I would have never taken advantage of it, I needed to look out for my charges welfare. There was no way I was going to try and raise Pochi, Tama and Carol in this kind of environment. That would be irresponsible.

We were almost out of the area when Zena slapped her hands over my ears managing to cover my eyes and shoot a death glare to the side. Not really caring until I felt the weight of our ride shift, carefully removing Zena's arms I looked over to see that Charl and Laura had both climbed into the back and were trying to carry a conversation. Unsurprisingly Zena was doing her level best to stop it.

"How was your morning Kirito?"

"So far so good. How about yours?"

"Kirito, how do you know them?" This reminds me of someone, but who?

Charl, or at least I think it was, answered. "He spent the night with us. My morning has been good so far I could think of a few better ways to wake up but, really can't complain."

"You slept with them!"

Laura, I think I am just going to go with that until I can pin down their names better, spoke up next. "Slept being the operative term. Do you know how long it took to take off his shorts just so they didn't rub against me while we were sleeping?"

"You were all naked!" Zena you should probably quite yelling or this is going to look worse for you than me.

"Yea, why would you go to sleep in clothes, there constricting. Also before you break up with him for this, you have to get him to give you a massage. I haven't slept that well in years."

"Feeling his hands all over was defiantly the best I have felt since…"

Doing my best to ignore the sisters as they started debating my technique compared to others, in more detail then I wanted to know. "Zena its fine. Yes things got carried away but I was honestly just looking for a place that wasn't my room to go to sleep in. I didn't know they would send those two up."

Her face turning red as she tried to speak, "You didn't.. you didn't hav…"

"I didn't have sexually relations with those women."

Laura decided to input her two cents. "That doesn't mean we wouldn't have enjoyed it. So like I was saying Quin had potential but, the stamina thing…"

Choosing to ignore my friends in the back as they continued their conversation I glanced over at Zena, who had a fierce look on her face before giving herself a brief nod like she had just come to an important decision.

Knowing my luck, I would end up suffering for it somehow.

~O~O~

The last place we ended up looking was an actually old haunted mansion. According to rumor anyone who moved in died within a day. Sadly this wasn't an issue you could have an Italian plumber with a vacuum take care of, because it wasn't actually ghosts.

Checking my map had allowed me to spot the fact that there were multiple people with bounties living in the basement and that they had an underground tunnel that lead out past the wall. The very short tour we took allowed me to figure out that the building was in good enough condition, most likely due to the thieves not wanting it to collapse on them, and they had an extremely expansive backyard which had been used for farm land at some point.

"I'll take it."

The look my four female companions gave me a pretty good idea of their thoughts. The fact that a moaning sound came after a loud crash did little to reassure them. What they didn't know was that the wailing came from two guys who had run headlong into a door I happened to have my foot in front of.

"Just make sure the paper work isn't done before tomorrow morning."

Nadi, the clerk's name, looked at me skeptically, "While it might take a while I can still get everything settled so you could stay here tonight. Even with you buying the horses and that."

"It should be fine, I would still need to worry about furnishings and that. So take your time." Really I just didn't want anyone here while I cleaned the place out. Liza might enjoy it though, I could invite her just to see if she would want to come.

Charl looked at me worry in her voice, "Are you sure you can properly make use of this place only being a starting merchant? You're going to need staff just to take care of everything and that's going to cost a decent chunk of money."

"I have some plans that, hopefully, should help me make this place useable and sustainable in the long run."

Laura gave me a raised eyebrow, "If you say so…" Then looked over to her side to stare at Zena.

"I am going to live in a mansion…" Apparently her family while nobility, wasn't that well off.

Better to just ignore the problem and not destroy her fantasies, at least while I was still standing next to her. Or maybe she was standing next to me… she didn't appear to be leaving me alone and was always directly between me and one of the twins. Moving on, "Nadi do you think that I will be able to get a good set of horses and a wagon soon or will it take a while."

"A friend of mine was wanting to retire soon and was planning on selling his, would that work?"

"If you trust him it should be fine, figure out what he is asking and we can work with that. Same with the mansion, do you think I would need to talk to them directly?"

"I can take care of that but it would be best if I knew what you were willing to pay."

"I should be able to cover what they ask, just get it as low as you can."

"I'll try, if you have something else that you need to do this should take me awhile, is there a way I can reach you?"

"I will probably be staying at the Gatefront Inn unless something comes up, in which case I will leave forwarding information." Now for the next problem. "Do you have any idea where I will be able to find furniture?"

"There is a flea market going on today you might find some stuff there. Now that I think about _The Tragedy of Muno_ is being performed in the outdoor theater, it's quite romantic."

"Kirito."

"Yes Zena."

"We are going to the play."

"Um, ok."

"Hmm, Kirito."

"Yes Charl."

"Do you mind if we tag along?"

"Don't you two have anything better to do?"

"Not until tonight."

"Ahh, ok then."

With that we got back onto the wagon and were away. For some reason it felt like I had just got sentenced to jail.

~O~O~

Through my experiences in going to places to shop I have come to a few conclusions. The first being that different people have different expectations for what they are looking for. An example of this being that I will buy almost any article of clothing as long as it fits and looks like it will hold up, the fact that it is almost always black is a coincidence… really.

The second is that when asked for an opinion about something it is generally a good idea to figure out what points the person wanted your opinion on. For example when I look for an in game sword I typically look for high damage and durable items and am willing to sacrifice a good amount on the other aspects if it can match those. Asuna using a rapier tended to sacrifice durability for speed.

Third and probably the most important one is that when a women asks for your opinion on something it is usually A: They want to hear their thoughts in a deeper voice, B: They want you to check them out and then complement them, or C: They genuinely want your opinion. I will be honest C is typically reserved for lifelong friends that happen to be guys and anything way out of their expertise.

"Zena you look nice."

Laura had to pipe in for some reason, "Be honest Kirito."

Racking my brain I for some other neutral complement that should work. "You are the best dressed girl here Zena." Zena blushed while Laura gave me an approving nod. Wasn't hard considering I wouldn't count most of the other girls as dressed.

You may wonder how I had gotten into this position. It's quite simple really. While I had assigned my girls the task of gathering necessities which they did with gusto, their definition varied from mine. While I thought clothes, soap, and other necessities that a women might need. They thought they just needed the last two. Those that did make an argument that I probably wanted them to get clothes to were shot down with the fact that as their master I should decide what they should be dressed in.

This wasn't helped by the fact that the 'skirt and blouse' combo that Liza wore was actually the 'dress' she got when she turned 11. Slaves were typically given the minimum amount of clothing needed to keep their owners from getting in trouble. So technically I was good.

Realistically they were wearing burlap and none of them had underwear.

After getting back with Zena and finding the state of things I opted to postpone looking for furniture in order to fix my mistake of not being a bit more specific. Luckily Charl knew "just the place."

While not taking care of their dresses it defiantly took care of nightwear problem that I had run into with them last night among other things.

Zena not wanting to lose out to the other girls had decided to get into the action by trying some of the items on herself. Thankfully she only risked a light green pull over that went to just below her knees and was riske in the sense that a mother would wear it to put the kids to bed. The other girls operated by different rules.

For example Liza explained that animal people rarely if ever actually wore any underwear often just using chest wrappings in the case of women. This was due to their tails getting in the way either bunching up the fabric or just getting irritated by the consistent rubbing, causing the fabric to wear out extremely quickly. I ended up asking her to find something that she might like to wear that we could try modifying.

This brought to my attention something I had not taken into account. We were effectively in the middle ages. Meaning no elastic. While this didn't bother me when I had ended up buying my unmentionables due to everything just having a basic drawstring like my old swim trunks, the girls had more options. They either had a ribbon acting as a drawstring or they were side tied like a string bikini. I honestly doubt that's what period underwear was like. It was at least, in my mind, rather ingenious.

This however didn't help the fact that I was stuck in a small backroom having to state how different girls looked in different clothing. Specifically underwear and sleeping wear. "Did everyone grab enough?"

"One second master do you like this one." Dammit Arisa.

"Yea sure looks great. Grab it lets go."

"How about this one?" Marial take the hint.

"Whatever you're wearing put it in the pile, put on your regular clothes and let's go."

15 minutes later we were leaving the store.

"Now time to go pick up the rest of clothes." I forgot about that…

~O~O~

Never before had I been so glad to be stuck watching a two bit cheap rip of a chic flick.

It had taken us another hour and a half to get out of the subsequent clothing store and the only reason we pulled that off was me commenting on the show Zena wanted to watch. In a good turn of events the price I had originally heard the cost for watching the show was for you to be able to stand and view it that way. However they were trying to finish filling up a set of stands so the tickets for that were on sale and luckily no one else had wanted the back row.

The play itself seemed pretty basic with a brief bit at the beginning showing how the main character Zen wanted to marry his childhood friend and how they were living happily even though the Baron was taxing everyone heavily and enslaving anyone that opposed him. After that it went into how much Zen would miss his beloved while he was away getting supplies for his next experiment. Predictably the Baron saw Zen's girl and after learning she was a minor noble forced her into a marriage contract.

Upon returning Zen finds the love of his life about to enter a loveless marriage and goes to see and rescue her. After finding her and talking, she is torn between duty and love the choice is then taken from her hands as a maid (who had slept with the count in the first act) stabbed Zen in the back killing him. Due to talking being a free action Zen was able to deliver a powerful speech condemning them and also cursing them.

A time skip happened and when it picked up again we saw Zen as a Lich walking amongst the dead bodies of his family. Swearing revenge for his family he raised them as undead and marched on Muno. The childhood friend seeing him approach the castle rushes out to confront him while her now husband is distracted with other things (the maid.) During their discussion she learns of the death of his family while she had been trapped in the castle, the grief of all of the suffering she had caused making her rush of to confront the Baron. Meanwhile Zen proceeded to build up his forces seeing no other way at this point.

The Baron then reveals to his wife that he has been sleeping with the maid and that he has never truly loved either of them. Furthermore blaming his wife for all of the hardships and problems that have befallen their kingdom before attacking and killing her. The maid seeing this rushes to go and see Zen and tell him what happened and to apologize for all that she had done to them.

Zen overcome be grief after hearing that the love of his life died, informed the maid that while he was thankful learning of the news he didn't think he could forgive her. The maid understanding went on to say that in a different time and place they could have been close, but things always play out differently then you want them to before killing herself.

Taking his forces to confront the Baron, Zen found himself hard pressed but eventually was able to confront the Baron face to face in a sword fight. After a fairly lengthy dual the Baron found himself sitting against a wall with a sword at his throat. Zen delivered a powerful speech about never wanting this and how all he ever truly sought in all the time he had lived was for a women to love that loved him to.

Then out of nowhere a paladin showed up and killed Zen. The Baron at this point realizing that he was in fact an asshole and that everything was his fault begged forgiveness from the paladin and then committed suicide in an attempt to fix everything. The paladin then went on to say that he was a great noble and leader as was befitting a decedent of the ancestral king.

Overall I would have given the performance a 3 out of 5 stars. The acting was good the story for the most part wasn't bad accept for a handful of parts. The problem was the ending literally ruined everything. I mean I was fine with Zen dying (it was a tragedy after all) but the paladin came out of nowhere and ruined it for me. I mean you might as well say Naruto showed up and everything was magically fixed. Freaking Deus Ex Machina.

The three younger girls were fighting off sleep, but the others seemed to enjoy it even if I was fairly certain Liza was paying more attention the chicken stand that was nearby. Considering that we had to postpone lunch I couldn't blame her.

Beating the crowd we hurried and grabbed some crapes to tide us over for dinner. While we were at it Arisa had ended up dragging me over to a stand were a guy was trying to sell basic cards to help people learn how to read. After talking to him for a bit and having Arisa cut me off every time I tried helping him come up with a way to make them cheaper. I would need to talk her about it later but I did end up buying two sets of the cards. I knew for a fact that Pochi and Tama didn't know how to read and I wouldn't be surprised if Carol didn't know either.

After gathering everyone back up, we headed back to the inn. For the most part it went smoothly.

Melancholy laced Zena's voice as she spoke. "It was so sad that she had to give up the love of her life."

On the other hand Arisa spoke with confidence, "That shouldn't have stopped her. If you truly love someone you would be willing to sacrifice anything."

As I said for the most part. What had started out as a peaceful conversation between Arisa and Zena was most defiantly escalating.

"It was her duty as a noble to follow the marriage contract."

"It was her duty as women to follow her heart."

While I could see both sides of the argument to me it would probably end up being the circumstances around the event. If it came down to a matter of pride I would probably go with the person I loved alternatively if it came down to lives I would most likely opt for duty.

"How can anyone be expected to follow the law if its own keepers do not follow it?"

"How can there be any joy in life if you have to cage your heart?"

Rarely, however, are things so clearly laid out in front of us. I had told Ausna I was going to marry her, she had been wearing that ring for a month when we broke up. She couldn't sacrifice her pride, and I couldn't sacrifice my love of programming (my pride to if I really think about it). I don't know if it would have worked out if either of us had been willing to cave. I would like to think that it would have but, I guess it's too late for that now isn't it.

By the time my thoughts had finished they had clearly drawn their lines in the sand. They stared at each other for what felt like a minute before Arisa made the next move.

"What if you couldn't be with Kirito?"

Zena who up until that point had been pulling away from my arm during her argument had clenched down onto it like a lifeline. I needed to break this up. "Both of you make good points, but that was a bit low wasn't Arisa? Or am I to assume you wouldn't marry someone in order to save your sister?"

I honestly didn't know how close they were, I had known them for less than a day after all, but the way they acted around each other gave me a pretty good guess.

"That's mean Master."

"That was the point Arisa. There are things that we need to look into ourselves to find out and an argument in the street isn't the place for that. Now would you please apologize to Zena."

With a sound of resignation Arisa finally said the words I wanted to hear. "I am sorry Zena."

"It is fine Arisa. I just need time to think is all." Politely as always Zena made her peace.

"I am sorry for bringing that up as well Arisa." The look she gave me was more of deer in the headlights than anything else really. "I hope you can forgive me?"

"Of course Master."

Spotting a small jewelry stand I slowly guided us towards it knowing that it would hit me in the pocket book but, Arisa and Zena from what I could tell were the type of girls who liked jewelry. Hopefully they would end up on better terms. Making sure to watch what the different girls paid attention to while talking to the owner and causally slipping him the cash needed so I could take them without the girls noticing when we left. I also made sure to grab something for Lulu though it would be harder. Thankfully I had had help grabbing Lulu the things she needed at the other stores but I was kind of on my own for this one and settled on a simple steel chain with a locket with silver designs worked into the front.

After that we grabbed some snacks (chicken skewers at Liza's request) and made our way back towards the Gatefront Inn. By that point the group had split up a bit. Carol, Pochi, and Tama had went over to help with a couple of the chores with the maid girl they had become friends with. Cathy and Denice had went back up to the room to study or something, not really sure why Denice went up there to be honest.

Charl and Laura had left to get ready for work, but not before asking if I would stop by again tonight. I declined before Zena had started twisting my arm and Arisa rammed her foot into mine. The look of mischief the twins had as they left had me worried, they fact that they knew where I currently lived and where I was going to be moving to didn't help.

Marial had disappeared to who knows where and I was willing to let that one be for the moment.

I had been 'politely' guided by Zena to go and meet with her friends as they were returning with Arisa hanging off of my arm doing what had to be her level best to look like she was supposed to be there. Thankfully Liza was following us at a polite distance.

The girls that were in Zena's unit were not in the best of shape, their armor showed signs of having taken some decent hits and would defiantly need work when they made it back to the barracks. To my side Zena had already started chanting a healing spell to take care of wounds they had picked up. Leaving me the responsibility of making small talk. Why must you be so cruel?

"Did you run into some bandits today?"

"No." Answered the one with crossbow, I believe Lilio was her name. She looked at me a bit skeptically staring at the little girl that was trying to hang off my arm. "They usually aren't in big enough groups to do anything when we actually catch them. We ended up fighting a swarm of fanged ants."

"Damn that Rat Bastard." Said the one that wasn't Iona in full plate whose name I didn't know said. "If I ever catch him I am going to roast his ass!"

Iona thankfully clarified what was going on. "We found a ratman on the highway and were going to ask him some questions when he ran past us leaving us to fight a bunch of monsters that had been chasing him."

Ahh a monster train, I do kinda of wonder what he had done to agro that many monsters particularly if he was by himself like they suggested. Could be the opening move for a war or just an accident either way might be worth looking into tomorrow.

I was going to speak again when Zena finished her spell which was quickly followed by a scream behind us. It had come from the direction of the Gatefront Inn, if I had a guess it was a young girl.

That was where the younger girls had went.

Slipping out of Arisa's grasp and avoiding Zena's attempt at grabbing my arm I ran as fast as I could towards the screaming. Liza made to follow me but I was past her before she started turning around.

I had to slow down in order to get around the wagon that was parked out in front of the inn. Rounding the corner of wagon I saw Pochi hit a large ant with a stick as Tama prepared to tackle it. The maid girl had fallen back and was presumably were the scream originated from.

Stopping and letting the two young animal girls handle the ant I checked the map. If the ratman had been chased by ants and one the scouting patrols had some difficulty defeating them it stood to reason that there could be more considering the one in front of me. Zooming out quickly showed me a large wave of red dots coming this way.

Checking the situation again I made my plan. "Pochi, Tama, grab your swords and bucklers defend the Inn. Have Liza assist you there a lot of flying ants coming. Maybe try barricading the door I need to go try and warn the others. Please be safe."

Turning I ran towards the inn hearing the two girls yell "Yes, Master." Even as I rushed past the crowd that had decided to follow me.

"Swarm of ants coming no time, need to hurry."

The people I jostled as I ran up the stairs in the inn had didn't have time to yell at me as the mask and wig began to materialize in my hand slipping them on as I rushed through the door to my room throwing off my cloak and hitting a less then dressed Denice with it who probably was about to start screaming as I cleared the window on my way towards the main gate.

The sound of the alarm started going off as I crossed the half way point. A quick shift of my eyes let me know that they were indeed 'flying' ants. Jumping to the top of the wall and kicking off again put me in a good position above the ants even as some of them moved to attack me.

Using my fireball spell might work but would risk setting the area around the town on fire I needed to use something else. Materializing a bunch of old pennies into my hand I started raining down death as the coins started to kill the ants that were closest to villagers that were trying to come in from the few fields that were outside of the city. Finally landing on the ground I grabbed a sword out of my inventory running it into and dragging the one ant I hadn't been able to hit before I landed clearing the gate for it to close properly.

Walking back in, I saw a line of crossbowmen taking aim up at the sky as more ants attempted to fly over the wall. Almost half of them fell from the sky to their deaths from some invisible barrier as half of those remaining began to fall to the bolts being fired from the crossbowmen. From the looks of it the guards on the walls were able to keep the ants trying to scale the wall from actually getting over.

Some of the guards who no longer needed to guard the main entrance went up to assist those still on the wall while others formed squads to take out those that had actually been able to land. Due to the sheer size of the swarm that was attacking there were still a large number that were able to escape into the town.

Liza appeared to have been able to get the wagon in front of the inn tipped onto its side preventing anything from easily getting in while having Pochi and Tama made sure nothing had the opportunity to try and move the wagon. Liza herself was quickly engaging anything that was within a reasonable distance from the inn using sweeps to trip the ants or using quick jabs to strike at where the plates couldn't cover. The rest of the girls seemed to be watching from the window throwing rocks when they could.

How they got the rocks I have no clue.

Eventually I had enough time to change out of my 'hero' uniform out behind the inn equipping a similar cloak to the one I had on earlier and a different sword. However there wasn't much that I needed to do due to the effectiveness of the animal girls. Leaving me the responsibility of clearing out the ants that were trying to escape the front square. I had reverted to using coins to kill them.

On my third or so check around the square I noticed that the door to the general store I had used earlier in the day had its door open. As I started towards the door I heard a scream, quickening my pace I made it inside and located a set of stairs going down into a basement.

Spotting Nadi being pushed up against the door by an ant I quickly jumped down using gravity to ram the sword into its body. Seeing how the stairs were covered in acid I looped my arms around her back and under her knees, using the corner where the walls meet the stairs to quickly climb back up.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Was not a problem. I need to get back out there. See you tomorrow."

With that I was out the door barely catching a glimpse as someone else up on the upper floor. Not really caring and wanting to make sure that everyone else was still fine I left.

~O~O~

It was sometime later that all the fighting had stopped due in no small part to the fact that 30 odd people cannot stop the hundred odd ants that got in easily. Liza was responsible for a good number of the kills ranking up there with a couple of the cities soldiers and while not as impressive Tama and Pochi got a good number of them as well.

Which lead me to me current predicament.

"You must surrender all of your monster cores to the city. You will be compensated as appropriate."

The guy looked like the human embodiment of a weasel.

"Is there some form I need to sign?"

Liza didn't like him and it probably had to deal with the fact that this guy was clearly trying to scam us, or the fact that he looked like a weasel.

"Do you not trust the government?"

"How much am I getting per core?"

"You will be appropriately compensated."

That does approximately nothing to take care of my worries.

"Could we get a contract with a signature attached to it?"

"Do you not trust your government?"

Are you an NPC?

"I have fifteen cores. At the current going rate these cores should get me around two silvers a piece so thirty silvers. If you will just sign here so I can redeem this?"

"Fine you have a deal."

 **Title Acquired: Grey Merchant**

 **Title Acquired: Aggressive Negotiator**

 **Skill Acquired: Aggressive Negotiation**

 **Skill Acquired: Intimidation**

Well that was slightly insulting. I just had him sign a contract to actually pay me. The fact that only he thought anyone would pay attention to it was beyond me. Still would be fun to cash in tomorrow.

"I am glad that man is gone master."

"Me to Liza. Do you want to go blow off some steam latter tonight?"

"Beg your pardon master?"

"The house I am trying to buy has a group of thieves hiding out in it. I want to get rid of them before the deal gets finalized. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Ahh… that's what you meant master. I would be grateful to accompany you in this endeavor master."

"Good we can leave Tama and Pochi with Cathy while we go out tonight."

When we made it back to the Inn it was only to find Martha's mom slightly miffed with me. The reason being one Nidoren, my good old slave trading acquaintance sitting at the bar. In all honesty it was probably more so the fact that Martha was crawling all over the two half naked girls with her trying to figure out if they were suitable for me.

"These two didn't sell. Are you still good for that deal we made?"

I had totally forgot I was going to do that.

~O~O~

They say there is no honor amongst thieves. Up until this point I had seen that more as a general statement discussing the fact that if you lie expect to be lied to if you steal expect to be stolen from.

A quick scan of the place showed me that everyone in there had at least one or two bounties and were members of the thieves guild Apple's Eye. The only two exceptions were a ratman and an elf who were next to each other.

When we went in I had my mask and wig and was back to wearing a pair of pants and long-sleeved shirt. Liza's new 'hero' outfit had her wearing the same with her hair stuffed beneath the wig. Sadly she had to use a different spear due to the other one being too easily recognized.

The attack went smoothly.

There use of traps and poison was expected.

The wave of knives and crossbow bolts only a promised eventuality.

The swordsmen flanking us only good tactics.

The rat man in the corner that guarded the brown bundle behind him was a curiosity.

The short scream from behind the closed door was attention drawing.

The brief fight in the main room was relaxing.

The scene in the bedroom was infuriating.

Straddling a stripped girl half his age with her eye slowly swelling shut the 'man' was about to drive his point home.

I made sure my point was made in roughly the same way his was going to be to her, but mine was steel and good bit longer.

A look around the room showed two more girls in similar states of dress and wellbeing.

Flicking my blade clean I left the room. Liza was quickly tying up the handful of survivors.

"Would you please make sure the girls in the room are taken care of. I need to go and relieve some more _stress_."

"Of course Master."

The living shadows that decided to appear right then were… relaxing.


	7. Chapter 7: Not Shopping

Second time is the charm… Hopefully.

On the plus side school is out?

~Spoilers~

I finally got around to writing the scene that I dreaded. I had a general idea of how I wanted it to play out. The difficult part was trying to figure out the dichotomy of a compulsion and what he was really thinking. Anyway I think it works. Also Arisa is a thing.

My Master plan for the animal children is now in the open if you have any changes that you think it will need let me know. The hard part will be time constraints but I think I can get an extra week due to future shenanigans.

~End Spoilers~

~Reviews~

EddyQ- Appearently?

OgamiRei-Kun- You bring up some amazing points. Part of the reason for my writing of this fic if look at the author notes brings up this up. While there are many series in the Isekai genre most follow the exact same pattern. The fact that seemingly over half of them have a copy paste of the main character design is the reason this was written in the first place.

On the point of skills you are correct Kirito would normally not put any skills into pretty much joke skills. This is an interesting point for him though. At this point he can max out more skills then he has and quite possible more then he can effectively use. Also remember this is the man who put points in the fishing skill. Saying he wouldn't do it just to see what would happen makes sense but on the other hand to many resources and curiosity can make you do strange things.

On the seed based game point. There are a few games that don't implement sword skills meaning they are in fact not a tell for a seed based game the original ALO and GGO do in fact not have sword skills. The only reason Underworld does is lazy programming. In fact the more indicative test for a seed based game would probably be swiping a finger down to see if a menu appears. Though it is shown that which hand can change between games it is fairly consistent.

Fighting style yes Kirito has a fairly set fighting style. Namely duel wielding he has shown in the past that while he is most proficient using two blades he can use other options such as a blade and a gun. In this I will probably try to keep him to that unless necessity demands a different choice. Such as a mob of goblins would probably be better dealt with a mini-gun then a guy with two swords. This world does not have sword skills though they have ways to reinforce their weaponry with magic. He will figure out how to do that as he progresses farther along the magic skills route.

I am trying to make it so when Kirito is dressed like the Hero he can go all out. When he is not he can move around and get more information quickly without people bothering him. In order to distinguish between these two his fighting style is going to have to change so people don't pick up that they are the same person.

If you have any more questions or things you think I should change let me know either be review or PM me and we can talk. I am always looking for ways to improve this.

Shadowdragondanny/ProtoSaber15/Alex Focker/Plattwe/Guest:- Done.

Supersonicfan1107- Yea he was not a happy person when he found that. On the plus side some of them survived? Agreed.

Nicolas- I love how the story goes and the path you chose. ~ I loved making decisions. But do not think there are too many women in a very short time and I guess in the next chapter will appear Mia. By the way do you know if a second season of the death march will perish?~ : Gracias. Después de buscarlo de nuevo, no creo que hayan anunciado que lo harán y, sinceramente, tengo dudas de que esto sea una segunda temporada. Sin embargo, en lo que se refiere al inglés, los libros están a la altura del libro 8, lamentablemente no sé cuál es el equivalente en español.

~Thank you. After looking it up again I don't think they have announced that they will and I honestly feel doubtful that this will get a second season. However as far as English is concerned the books are up to book 8 I sadly do not know for the Spanish equivalent. ~

Kyo- As for the first part it appears. The exact repercussions might be longer now that I think about it. As far as traveling goes. Yes he will leave the town he is in. Yes they will eventually leave the country. Remember though that this is no small country the first season of the anime doesn't have them leave the country just that town. They in fact travel through several towns before they even leave the country at the end of book 7. So yes they will leave the country it is just going to take a while and peoples opinions very a lot between towns.

~End Reviews~

~X~X~X~

I can honestly say the books are better. OgamiRei-Kun most likely agrees with me on that one.

~X~X~X~

While many a young man dreams of the night when some smoking hot babe crawls into their bed to do something to them.

I want to take this time to cation them.

They are totally trying to use you.

It may just be for the steamy night of passion, your money, or bragging rights, though I typically see that as something a guy would do. In the end it just isn't worth it.

Or if they are literally hot they are either sick or some sort of sex demon.

Either way don't touch that.

-Kazuto Kirigaya

~O~O~

The sun was about to raise by the time Liza and I eventually made it to a guardhouse to drop of the remaining people we had dealt with over the night. While discussing it with her, she informed me that unlike I was currently thinking the likely hood that they would end up in jail was actually quite small.

It turns out that in a world with magical contracts it was in fact more effective to just turn them into slaves or just kill them. While I personally didn't like the system I could see its advantages, the fact that they could use a magic stone to figure out if someone had actually committed a crime made it so wrongful convictions were nearly non-existent.

This is what lead me to standing outside a guard house with a bunch of tied up people and a bag partially full of heads. (Apparently you only needed a head to cash in a bounty. Still disturbing but better then carrying around a whole body.) I would only get a small amount for each head and if it turned out they were actually innocent (they weren't) I could actually end up going to jail myself. This gave the incentive to actually catching the people alive. Which aside from the not going to jail thing I would receive half of their slave price as the bounty.

The fact I had three potential rape victims with me that I was turning in due to their crimes weighed heavily upon me. The likely hood that they would be executed was slim However the fact that this town had an active red light distract and Nidoren made no attempt to deny that he was basically selling sex slaves. I had no illusion as to what they would be used for if bought, the fact that I would have saved them just to throw them away disturbed me.

Thankfully I knew the guy that was currently posted there.

"Sir Thorne I know that they are criminals, but is there some we could not make them slaves?"

"I am sorry sir, their crimes are enough that a fine wouldn't work, not that they could pay it right now, and we don't just cage people and leave it like that." Taking a breath he looked back at the lot of them. "Your just concerned about the three girls in the back right."

A quick nod of my head let him know my thoughts on the matter, while they might all have been responsible for their own actions. I didn't want to make them suffer more then they needed to.

"Between the bounties and the others you brought in we can make those three your personal slaves. That's about the best I can do. They will follow their punishment and you can make sure nothing bad happens to them. All I need is your name."

Well this was awkward. Due to me wanting to keep my abilities secret, Liza and I were still in costume. So if I gave him my name he would know who I was…

Damn it, he was staring at me now. It was time to bluff, Sean Connery accent don't fail me now. "I would gladly take them with me, but as a traveling hero. It would be too risky to take them with me."

"Well then mister traveling hero we are going to have to sell them as slaves."

"I, however know of someone who seems trustworthy enough."

"And what is this person's name?"

"I believe he is a merchant by the name of Kirito."

"Ahh… the merchant who never does anything."

While I might not have liked the epithet I really couldn't deny it. I really need to actually try doing the job I picked. "That seems like an apt description. I must now bid thee farewell. Come Spearmen Red we must depart to continue our never ending quest against evil."

"Yes master. Don't forget we needed to pick up medicine."

This was so embarrassing. "Onward!"

~O~O~

Several things had come up last night.

I needed to pick up medicine for Lulu.

The thorough trashing of a bunch of criminals.

My continued hatred of anything related to pretty boy fairy kings.

The fact that you can summon shadow monsters.

And last but not least I had at some point saved an elven princes. While I have saved many a strong and independent women, this was my first time saving someone as a form of stress relief. Thankfully her ratmen guard Mize was there to watch over her as me and Liza took our recently acquired bandits to the proper authorities. While we were doing this Mize requested that we grab the elf in town named Yuya in hopes that he could help him get the princess back home faster.

Considering the fact that Mize was currently a wanted individual it made sense that we would need to get Yuya to him. Thankfully Yuya happened to be the owner of the general store that Nadi worked at. Which was why I was standing in their lobby debating if I should have waited for them to open.

While I was debating the legality of my decision, I thankfully had Liza to bring me back to reality. "Master."

The sounds that I could now hear indicated that the people upstairs had finally realized someone was here.

"Yuya, I'm not sure I am ready."

Or at least one of them. This world is going to be the death of me.

It was shortly after that they finally made their way downstairs Nadi towering above the store owner as she carried a candle. Yuya stood in front this was the first time I had really seen him, his light green hair was hanging down his back in a collapsing braid giving him a carefree look that matched his tunic and pants. Overall he seemed more curios why I was here then annoyed.

"Mize the ratman has sent me here to inform you that he requires assistance in helping Misanalia Bolenen."

"Why."

"I didn't look into it further and she appeared to be asleep when I saw her."

"Take me."

Nodding quickly, I addressed Liza, "Spearmen Red go check on the others and go to bed. I don't believe I will need your assistance for the rest of this." Then back to the elf, "If you are ready, please follow me."

A quick shift of his head was all I got as a response. Turning on my heel I once again entered into what little was left of the night. Only half of the magic lanterns hanging were lite showing that we were in the third bell or last four hours of the night. The only other people we saw on the streets were a hand full of men trying to make it home, the whores either making there keep or having given up for the night.

We ended up making good time as the hints of dark purple began reaching into the sky as I lifted the cellar door for Yuya. Mize was where we had left him standing guard near Misanalia, the tension in his body seemed to release when he saw us.

"You made it back."

"I brought the elf like you asked." So said elf was moving towards the brown bundle behind the ratman only a child's head with long green hair resting on a pillow differentiating it from the large bundle of rags.

"What's wrong?"

"She won't wake up, I was trying to get her home but we kept getting attacked. You were closer."

"Out of mana." The elf paused for a moment. "Help her, then home."

Catching the drift of what was going on I made my own suggestion. "Do we want to move her to your shop or keep her here? They already found this place once, but I would think your place would be where they would look first."

"Keep her here. If attacked again move to the shop."

"I need to go and do somethings Mize if you can watch her until noon I can come and trade you off."

"That will be fine Sir Kirito."

"Then I shall make my leave."

~O~O~

Sir Thorne walked into the Gatefront in at a little after first light with the orange beginning to win its fight with the still predominately purple sky. I was still at the bar working my way through a piece of toast and a fruit salad, when I had arrived they were just barely starting up the ovens so there wasn't much of a choice. The stout I had next to me was strange but good.

"Kirito, you would not believe what happened to me last night."

"I have this feeling you're going to tell me."

"I had just started my shift when these two people showed up with the most notaries outlaw guild in town tied up or killed with them."

"That has to be good for you."

"And get this they were wanting to try and save these three, from being turned into slaves." He motioned behind himself, and like was expected were the three girls that I had rescued. Though they weren't wearing any clothes, unless you counted ropes and leather collars. Thankfully it looked like nothing else had been done to them.

"The law states that for their many counts of theft they must be turned into slaves. So this guy uses all of his rewards and buys them then, gets this, gives them to you." His look shifted into something a bit harder as his voice dropped, "So what were you doing last night?"

I shot him a look that clearly told him how much I wanted to go to bed at this point. "Avoiding sleeping with five girls at once."

"That has to be the stupidest story I have heard yet."

"I can't handle the number of girls I am currently dealing with. What makes you think I would or could take on an entire guild just to add more girls to what I am dealing with?"

Reaching into a pouch he had on his side he slide some papers in front of me. They had an intricate magic seal on the front and over where I was supposed to sign. "You have a point but this doesn't get you off the hook. Just be glad everything that guy did was on the up and up. Sign these and I can get out of your hair."

A quick read through let me know that they were just there to make sure that I became the rightful owner and any future misdeeds they did while I owned them would be counted against me. Nothing to out of the ordinary. Signing them created a brief glow letting us know that the contract magic had worked correctly. Leaving me the proud owner of three more slaves. O joy.

Sir Thorne made sure to leave while I quickly finished of my breakfast leaving the plates along with a tip on the bar before Martha's mom or someone else caught me downstairs with three naked girls.

I had made it to the stair well before I realized they weren't behind me. "Follow me." I would have thought they would have figured to follow me, so they were either scared or doing their best to be defiant. Either way I really couldn't blame them.

Luckily our trip upstairs was not interrupted. I quickly knocked and gave a brief warning that I was coming in. Not hearing a negative response I gingerly opened the door to find both mattresses on the floor with blankets laying on top of the conglomerate of slave girls that were there. I am not sure if Cathy or the animal girls could have fit if they wanted to. Moving over towards to, hopefully, the more responsible one there.

I nudged the peaceful looking Mariel, before whispering into her ear. "Mariel are you awake."

"If I say yes will you make my dreams come true?" The hopeful tune of her voice was a bit disconcerting.

"Doubtful."

She gave her answer while wrapping herself tighter against the back of one of the girls I ended up buying last night "No."

"I am going to need you to introduce some new people to everyone else when they wake up."

"Why don't you do it" she more of mumbled into the other girls back.

"Because I need to go find some place to sleep."

"Why don't you sleep with us?"

"Because I don't trust myself and I don't trust some of you."

"You need to relax more."

"So I ended up with the three girls behind me somehow, so introduce them. Lulu is supposed to take a spoonful of this before each meal. Make sure everyone has the clothes they need if not get some more here is ten gold that should hopefully cover the expenses, breakfast is payed for downstairs. I will probably be sleeping with Liza in the stable if you need me."

"Hmm k."

"Everything is on a note on the dresser."

"Can I get a good bye kiss before you go?"

I blew her a quick kiss from the door as I walked out wrapping my cloak around one of the three new girls while motioning for them to try and get in the dog pile.

A stray thought crossed my mind when I finally made it down to the stable with Liza and Cathy, Pochi and Tama having gotten up early and started helping with the inn.

'This is getting ridicules.'

~O~O~

When I eventually woke up it was to Liza's sleeping face. Pushing myself up and out of the blanket I made my way over to the back of the Inn to take a quick bath to get all of the dust and sweat off that had accumulated between looking at dusty houses and the numerous skirmishes I had gotten into.

When I had gotten back into the Inn, I was dragged up to my room by Mariel and Arisa where they had apparently decided what I was going to wear for the day. They had come to the decision that while it was appropriate for me to decide what they should wear (or not) due to me owning them, it was their duty as my slaves to make sure I always looked my best.

What they had not taken into account was I really only had shades of black. Making me the winner. I also had to make sure to kick them out of the room. While I might have only been slightly bothered being dragged around in a towel, I was not going to give them a show.

By the time I had made it to the mansion I had picked up the deed from Nadi along with the horses and cart.

When I had made the decision to buy the cart it was more of 'something that I would need for my cover.' I had completely forgotten the fact that I didn't actually know how to drive one. As luck would have it Lulu did. While she had only used a single horse cart before this and was nervous she performed admirably. I made note to make sure to pick up the skill before I needed to leave.

While I had left most of my party upstairs to figure out what we needed to set the place up as a proper house, there were a couple of exceptions. Cathy along with the five new girls I had picked up since yesterday afternoon were out getting clothes. Whereas Liza was following me into the cellar to go and check on Misanalia.

Mize like every other time I had walked into a room with him had his hatchet in hand ready to pounce before he recognized us. Seeing that it was me he let the tension flow out of his body, while I started a routine check of the room to make sure everything was in proper order. Misanalia was in the back room with the mattress. We had made sure to flip it over to hide the blood and other things.

"It is good to see you again Sir Kirito." While Mize had a hard time speaking… common? I had told him that I had picked up the ratman language in my travels (really I maxed it out after he first spoke to me in it), so at least when talking to me he spoke in his native lounge. But due to me speaking common more easily we typically spoke in our preferred language knowing the other understood it.

"Likewise Mize" Making my way towards him I grabbed a chair that was in decent condition. "You should probably get some sleep, I can cover this for now."

With a quick nod he went into the room Misanalia was in a grabbing a couple of blankets placed them on the floor and fell asleep.

Thus leaving me the hard part of guard duty. Waiting.

There were a couple of problems that I needed to work through, while I might be able to brute force my way through a good portion of them it that would at best be a short term solution. The first one was the fact there were a large number of abandoned animal people children. While rounding them up would be easy physically taking care of them would be difficult. With the mansion I most likely had the room to house them even if I kept them all hidden in the cellar in bunks. The difficult part would be making sure they were self-sufficient.

I had the land and could probably make them all farmers of some sort. But that would be a waste of their natural abilities to just limit them to that. I needed a way to teach them a fairly broad number of skills. How to fix a large number of things, deal with numbers, reading, and how to defend themselves.

In short I needed to start a business that can run itself with minimum interaction from me due to me traveling as a merchant, while also being able to be run by the most discriminated group in town.

So the customer needs to either be desperate, greedy, or uncaring. Alternatively if I can get someone to run the front of the company that I could trust it would work just as well.

The only business I could think of at the moment was a bathhouse. It would take work but I had the resources to fund it and I could get the minimum personal to run it. I could probably talk Martha into running it as training for taking over the Gatefront Inn while the two new slaves I had gotten from Nidoren had some accounting skills at least to help her start. The abandoned animal children could clean it up at night and run some of the land in the back with a couple easy to start learning crops. When they had time we could work in them getting lessons.

The major problem with it as it currently stood was how to heat the water. A boiler of some sort was a decent option but it would require wood or some other source to be brought in to heat the water. Another concern would be getting the water with a stream available it wasn't too much of a concern we would just need to make sure the water ran through some sort of filter before it left.

Magic items were a thing but I would need to figure out how to build them and it would take time. The time I had left before when I told Jin Belton I would be leaving was still a week off so I might have a bit of lee way but I would be cutting it close.

With thoughts on that squared away I was left to contemplate the other growing issue. My apparent inability to not gather female slaves. Considering that I was at 14 and hadn't been in this world for even a month I might need to watch myself.

Soon I would need to be moving around and actually trying to do my stated profession. While it was beneficial to have several people with me for this I was currently bordering on the realms of way to many.

While I was planning on leaving some of them here to look after my upcoming business venture as it stood there were some of them that would not benefit it and adding unneeded people would only slow the business down. At most as it stood I was planning on leaving four people. The two from Nidoren along with two of the ones I had just gotten from turning them into the authorities.

That still left me with ten people besides me and I still haven't taken into account Tana. While the cart might be a bit wide it would need to carry a few people throughout the day but, there also needed to be room for what we were transporting to. As it stood it was going to be cramped. There was no way around that unless we got another cart and I couldn't justify that with how much I had already dropped into this without people thinking I was made of money.

There was also the bag of worms I was getting messed up in with Misanalia.

Defeating the first demon could have been the end of things, having to save an elven princess was also something you have to look out for in games or books. While I would hate to think this world is just a game with how everything is playing out it would be safe to assume more 'issues' would be sprouting up soon.

I guess I should also be thankful that even though this world seems to like to point that way it isn't an eroge. Honestly it seems like half the girls are nothing more than jail bait.

"Liza, can you grab Mariel for me I have a couple things for her to buy. Then if you want we can spar for a bit."

Well if worse comes to worse I need to be ready.

~O~O~

It was only a short time after Mariel had left to go and purchase the things that I had requested along with Lulu and Denice that Misanalia woke up.

At the time I was sparing with Liza while Pochi and Tama were trying to show Carol how to swing a sword. We were doing our best to keep quite having wrapped the sticks that were using in some of the other blankets.

While it wasn't loud the sound of her yawning was picked up by both me and Pochi. Leading to me having to dodge backwards and Pochi getting hit on the head.

Opening the door slowly I peered in to see the green haired girls silver eyes doing the same thing with her blanket that I was doing with my door.

"Pretty…"

Her voice was soft with idle wonder. Opening the door fully I motioned for the girls behind me to stay where they were. "Hello Misanalia my name is Kirito. Are you doing alright?"

"Mia."

"Are you feeling well Mia?"

A slow nod with an affirmative sound was all I got for my troubles before she broke the silence again. "Mize?"

"He is sleeping over there, it is my turn to guard you." She looked slightly scared and from the looks of it was using me as some sort of lifeline. It was probably best to just talk to her for now. "Liza please continue training Tama and Pochi. This might take a while."

With that the door was slowly closed behind me as a small smile crossed my lips.

~O~O~

I ended up talking to Mia for about an hour and a half before she fell asleep again, the topics of our "conversation" wandered varying between elves, magic, and spirits with me being the driving force as she seemed to want me to just be with her. Through the entirety of this event I managed to pick up the skills elvish and decryption, most likely from the fact that here answers rarely breached some invisible two word limit.

Seeing as they were probably useful I quickly put levels into them.

When she did fall asleep I had to slowly pull her fingers from the sleeve of the cloak I was wearing.

It was soon after that Yuya had shown up having finished what he was planning on doing for the day. Apparently there were potions that helped restore mana, while this was currently not a problem for me I could see why others would need them. The problem was that they were extremely expensive. Yuya was able to cut a deal with one of the local apothecaries that if he went and grabbed enough of some specific rare ingredients then they would make him one.

We opted to wait for Mia to wake up again before giving it to her.

Among other things that came up during the discussion was what we were going to do for guard rotations. While Mize was going to be around her full time he would need to sleep at some point. The solution that was decided on was with me taking the first part of the night watch and Yuya taking the second half leaving Mize guarding her for the entirety of the daylight hours.

Due to the how the day had went while it was technically my shift Mize was taking over for the first part of it while ended up helping move the things Mariel had been able to buy into the mansion. While quite a few of the merchants brought their own wares to the house to be unloaded the sheer number of mattress ordered necessitated that Lulu had to take ours out and pick some of them up. I ended up with the master bedroom even though I was more than satisfied with the ones in the servant's quarters.

The fact that if I ever got married my wife would have us move to it was a good enough reason for me.

After that I ended up going through the place more in-depth to figure out what I needed to fix. Due to the mansion only recently being abandoned and the fact that the bandits used the upper floors for meetings kept it in reasonably good condition. Making note of the fact that I probably needed to clean out the chimneys among other things. I started looking out trying to figure out the layout for the public baths I was planning on building.

What I needed was concrete which I really didn't know that much about. As it was I was probably going to need to use pieces of slate and bind that together with mortar. That would be extremely time consuming but it beat having to build the actual bath portions out of wood which would need to be replaced frequently. Using wood for the dividers would be fine the walkways would need to be something sturdier in the end but for the preliminary build wood would also be fine.

My thoughts continued in the same vain during my watch as Mize made up for the fact that he had been up for about two days straight. When Yuya finally made it down to trade me off I was glad, while I could have probably kept going I needed to get my sleeping schedule back under control. The trip to my room was uneventful as was my climbing into bed and falling asleep.

Sadly the rest of the night wasn't of the same vein.

It was still fairly hot that night so I had forgone a shirt and when I did finally fall asleep there was a light sheet on top of me, more out of force of habit then an actual need. Feeling a tug around my waist I slowly opened my eyes in confusion as while Asuna had haunted my dreams for a while after our breakup I hadn't had a dream with her in a while.

The sight of lilac locks looking up at me with pleading purple eyes took my breath away. She was beautiful.

"Master."

Reaching down I felt Arisa's soft skin caress mine as my hand slowly brushed the hair off of her shoulder. The feel of her hands as she climbed up my body doing nothing to hold back my anticipation as her lips slowly moved towards mine. My eyes closed in pleasure as our lips locked allowing me to see my status.

Seeing that I was under a compulsion. I stumbled through the menu as both pleasure and horror began to fill my mind. Stumbling across a seduction magic resistance skill I quickly started dumping points into it. Feeling my mind begin to slowly clear I continued the act, as she pulled away from the kiss only to sit down on my thankfully still clothed erection.

She moaned as she shifted the cloth back and forth trying to grind into me. "Master… you're such a pervert." The clash of the way she said the words and her age helped me fight the feelings that were trying to overcome me.

If it was a one shot spell it my change in resistance might have broken it, she had to be sustaining it. Meaning she probably had to be concentrating on it.

While making her 'see stars' would undoubtedly break her concentration she was eleven. Not going to go into that. Hurting her would probably have the same effect, but I was never one to hurt a girl on a guess.

Flipping us over leaving me with only my hands and knees keeping our bodies our bodies apart as she reached around my neck to pull herself up into another kiss as one of my hands left the bed tracing itself up the outside of her leg. A moan of contentment reached my ear as she closed her eyes while my hand reached the base of her growing femininity.

A felt a smile touch my lips as my hand moved quickly from her chest and into her side as my once sensual touches danced across her skin tickling her.

Sounds of laughter started to fill the room as I shifted my weight on to my knees making sure she didn't kick me in the groin as I brought my other hand to bear on her sides.

After a minute and checking to see that the status effects had left my status bar I stopped. Letting her come down I rolled off of being on top of her so I could lean against my head board. "Arisa what was that about?"

"I love you master."

"Ok… can you please clarify."

"You don't have any obscene muscles and such a pretty face, you are exactly my type."

"What?"

"I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to have sex with you master."

Well this was awkward. If she was trying to manipulate me, someone had put her up to it, or even if she hadn't known why she was here to begin with that would be one thing. However hearing an eleven year old girl tell me that she wanted to have sex with me was quite jarring. Had she even started puberty yet?

"Arisa, you should wait to have sex with someone that you love."

"But I do love you master. Besides I know your secret."

"What you described was more lust then love Arisa, and what secret are you talking about."

"But I do love master. You are from Japan just like me. Which only proves that we should be together."

"So you got brought over here to then?"

"Yep I was reincarnated as a princess."

"Well that explains your title then. Were there any benefits from you reincarnating?"

"I was able to get a couple unique skills. Do you want to know them?"

"Not really, I was just curios." At this she gave me an odd look. Unique skills weren't a new concept to me, I had one myself back in SAO, and I knew the power that something that was called unique could have. However I also knew about how having an ace up my sleeve could help me, with the position Arisa is in… Having a little extra security never hurt.

"Do you want to at least know my normal skills?"

"If you want to tell me that's fine, but don't feel like you have to."

"I am doing this because I want to. My first skill is **Psychic Magic**. It allowed me to cast the spell on you."

"So it is more for mental manipulation as opposed to a telekinetic type of skill."

"Yep. It wasn't working that well on you so I had to boost its power with my unique skills to get it to work. I also have **Hide Skill** , which makes it so not even a Yamato Stone can read my skills."

That is probably what made her skills appear as none when I did my original scan. "Useful. Though at higher levels it could cause problems if you still don't have any that skills appear."

Her head tilted causing her hair to shift, "I hadn't thought of that. Anyway aside from my unique skills I have only one more skill, **Item Box**. It allows me to store 100 copies of 100 different items. Let me demonstrate." With that she brought her hands out chanting " **Item Box.** " A large blue and white patterned vase appeared in her hands which she tipped back trying to drink out of it.

Trying mainly in the fact she seemed to be spilling a good portion of it onto herself and subsequently my bed. "Arisa can you please stop getting water all over my bed?"

Almost dropping the jug as she set it down, she looked at my incredulously… well as close as a sopping wet naked 11 year old girl could. "That didn't turn you on at all?"

"I am older then I look, I will admit this is really awkward for me."

"That's another thing we have in common, I am older then I look to so its fine."

I was forced to dodge the naked wet preteen girl as she dismissed the jug and lunged at me for another hug. Placing my hand on her forehead I was able to keep her at arm's length as she continued to try and get to me. "Lulu is your sister, so were you both reincarnated or something?"

"No. Her mother was one of my dad's concubines. She may look Japanese but she is actually the granddaughter of a hero. It's a shame really she would be one of the best looking girls in our old world but, everyone here thinks she is ugly."

"They don't seem to mind me."

"To them your just foreign, master. You remind them of heroes. For Lulu it's like everything is just off enough. I try to help her by she doesn't have confidence because everyone has always called her ugly."

"Well we will have to see what we can do about that. Every girl needs to have confidence in their looks."

"So you think I am pretty then."

The sound of her moving around let me know to close my eyes. "Arisa your eleven."

We stayed like that in silence what had to have been minutes. While it may not have seemed like she had given me a lot information it took me a while to go through it. Nodding to myself more out of habit then anything I brought up my final question for the night.

"So how did you end up becoming a slave anyway?" Finally opening my eyes as I asked the question. Not expecting Arisa to have propped her back up on some pillows so she could stare at me as she split her legs with one of her hands between them and biting the other. "Arisa your eleven!"

~O~O~

She had tried helping her kingdom… That is how she had become a slave.

It wasn't anything big. She had tried doing crop reforms.

While I personally didn't know much about that kind of thing, what I did know that even if what she had tried didn't work it shouldn't have failed that badly.

The timing of the attack by a foreign nation while the country was trying to recover from their agricultural disaster seemed too planned. It would make sense if they had sabotaged the crops.

The fact that the enemy nation immediately started sacrificing the royal family to 'jump start' a labyrinth pointed to some major issues. Thankfully the demon they summoned took care of most of them for me.

As horrible as it may sound we should go there if for no other reason than to loot the castle. It was recent enough that most of the stuff that wasn't broke may still be recoverable. Heartless I know but, I could at least give Lulu and Arisa some sense of closer.

My arms tightened slightly around the girl clutching to me, my shirt dwarfing, as she shifted in her sleep. She liked to put up a strong front but, you can't hold something like that up for ever and part way through her story she started to break down. She may be an 'old' soul in a child's body but it was good to see her act her physical age for once.

As I slowly drifted into slumber my mind went back to peaceful times, to those nights spent in our cabin. Not those nights of passion shared between two inexperienced lovers or those nights which we spent the nights showing our love to each other. No… Asuna was far from my mind.

No the nights when I held a tiny girl when all she wanted was her father to comfort her. Of the nights when a little girl just wanted an over sized large pillow.

"Yui."


End file.
